The Not So Huge Grey Area
by Oh-no-she-di'ent
Summary: When Luke starts to feel a little down and out, Lorelai takes it upon herself to make him feel better. Goes back to when they were friends.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer This story is purely fictional. I own nothing. Please don't sue. Thank you.

A/N: For those of you who have not given up on GG and are avid Luke and Lorelai fans, this story is for you. I guess you can say it takes place in Season 4, but it's kind of AU. Just forget about all of the crap that's happening on Tuesday nights at 8, and let your mind go to that sappy place that we all love to see L/L in. M rating is for later chapters b/c I fully intend on going there. That's right folks, there will be whoopee. _Wow, that's a lot of pressure._ I may change my mind, but that's doubtful.

The Not So Huge Grey Area

The day had been long. It had been long and extremely taxing. Luke's patience was wearing thin, and his customers were going to be the first to find out when it wore completely out. After all, they were a big reason for the mood.

He moved throughout the diner with purpose. Long strides punctuated with a heavy thud when foot hit floor. It was an angry walk that he had perfected. He figured it was one sign that people could pick up on warning them of his no-nonsense disposition.

"Excuse me?" one guy asked. Luke was passing the man's table when his attention was requested. He looked down at him and determined quickly that he was a tourist. His radically decorated shirt was too much for even this town.

"What?" He answered strongly. The man paused briefly, a little dissatisfied at the service he was receiving.

"Do you work here?" he asked, attitude brimming around every word. Luke looked up and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. His grip tightened around the coffee pot handle in his hand. He tried to take a moment to compose himself before answering, but he began to speak before the process was completed.

"I have a coffee pot in my hand. Do you think that I would come here as a customer and decide, 'hey, I know what I'll do," his hands flailed about dramatically, "'I'm going to violate several health and federal laws, hop behind the counter and start serving annoying tourists who ask stupid, obvious questions'?"

The guy stared dumbly at Luke until he found his tongue. "I just…wanted…some more coffee." Luke let out an aggravated sigh and poured coffee in the man's mug.

"Anything else?" His tone was almost daring the man to answer affirmatively.

"No," he replied with haste. "Thank you." He smiled with scared eyes. Luke walked away feeling somewhat bad at how he'd treated the poor guy. That is, until he heard a low "Jerk" being said as he rounded the counter. He didn't give it a second thought.

The bell above the door jingled, and in walked Lorelai. Glancing up from the counter, Luke saw her and threw a barely noticeable nod in her direction before going back to his task.

Lorelai sat on the only available stool, coincidentally her usual. "Aren't we in a happy-go-lucky mood today?" she said toward Luke.

"What can I get for ya?" He asked. He had his pad and pen set to write. A small pout formed on Lorelai's lips since he usually took time out to at least _humor_ her.

"You Ok?" she asked cautiously.

"Fine. Coffee?" His eyes remained on the pad.

She stared at him for a moment. "Coffee'd be great. Eggs would be too, scrambled of course. Sausage." She spoke slowly, waiting for any sign of life. "Lots of sausage. Pancakes with Jelly Belly pieces. Sprinkle it with bits of bacon too. A stick of butter with drizzles of syrup." He continued to write down her order and she glanced briefly at the upturned notepad. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she wondered why she was not getting lectured. She decided that it was time to pull out the big guns. "A half of a grapefr—". Before she get the word out, Luke's eyes shot up to her.

"You Ok?" His voice was a few notches higher than normal. He wondered if she had gone temporarily insane.

"Are YOU?!" She asked even higher. "Man! It's like you no longer have concern for me killing myself. Albeit, a happy death…" she smiled at the thought, then quickly went back to frowning, "but still…"

"Has my _concern_ ever stopped you before?" He asked, retreating back into his hole of grumpiness.

"No, but it's a part of the routine." She gestured between the two of them. "How am I supposed to enjoy my food if you haven't insulted it?"

He peered at her and reached down to retrieve her coffee mug. As he poured her coffee, Lorelai wondered what was going on with him. He was always petulant, but his reluctance to spar was just odd.

"Bad day?" She asked rhetorically.

"Look at all these people," he began. His eyes scanned the diner. "You'd think I was the only diner in town."

"You…are the only diner in town." Lorelai had a smile on her face as she said this. He looked at her tiredly.

"You know what I mean. Restaurant. Eating establishment. Another place they could get coffee…after coffee, after coffee, after coffee." A few of the customers took notice of Luke as he went about insulting their presence. Some mumbled their objections to their nearest neighbor.

"We're just rehearsing for a little play here," Lorelai said toward the patrons. "Don't mind us." Focusing again on Luke, she said, "You know, one day your charming attitude is going to put you out of business. And then what am I going to do?"

"Eat at home. And take these people with you." Two of the customers got up and angrily threw their money on the counter. They each gave an inflaming look toward Luke before heading out. Both were out-of-towners. It was easy to tell who the townies were because they were the ones who paid him no attention, having gotten used to the behavior and all.

"Oh, no tip?!" Luke yelled after one of the men. He sounded amused. The man turned around and started to say something but decided against it. Instead, he slammed the door much harder than was necessary.

"Putz," Luke mumbled. He picked up his rag and started to wipe roughly at the countertop. Noticing the unusual silence coming from Lorelai, he glanced up at her. She was staring doe-eyed at him as she brought her mug from her lips. "What?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"Is it that time of the month?" She asked considerately.

"Lorelai," he warned.

"What? I meant bill time. Geesh! I know I get a little grouchy around that time myself."

"No, it's not bill time."

"Then, what's wrong? And before you say 'nothing', I want you to notice the hole you're rubbing into the counter there." She pointed toward the spot that he was scrubbing furiously. He stopped and looked at her.

"My birthday," Luke said.

"Your birthday…" She repeated slowly trying to urge clarification. She suddenly slapped herself on the forehead. "…is next week!" She started to scan the countertop like she had lost something. "I can't believe I almost forgot. Some friend I am!"

"It's Ok," he said lightly.

"No, it's not Ok! You always remember my birthday. And, you give me 5 hours of labor, which let's be honest," she said with a knowing sideways look, "always turns into more like 8-10 free hours."

"Lorelai, calm down. It's next week; it's not like you forgot," he reassured her.

"Well, I would have! I plan presents weeks in advance. You know that. You think that flannel clad tool set I gave you last year was a last minute genius gift?" Luke's eyebrows furrowed a little as he thought back.

"You didn't give me a flannel clad tool set," he told her.

"Flannel clad tool set, a promise to actually pay for a week of coffee…potato, potata."

"Well, it's the thought that counts, I guess."

"Exactly," she said slapping her hand on the counter. "It is the thought that counts, and I didn't have a thought. I forgot."

"Don't worry about it, Lorelai," Luke said with exasperation. She sulked quietly for a moment wondering how she could make it up to him.

"So, your birthday is what's putting you in this wonderfully pleasing mood?"

"Pretty much."

"Why?" She asked.

He looked around both him and Lorelai, and once he determined that no one was listening, he leaned in and said quietly, "I found a grey hair."

Her eyes widened as a bright smile crossed her face. "Where?"

He stepped back and glared at her. "What exactly do you find funny about this?"

She feigned shock as a smile showed through her open-mouthed expression. "Nothing! I'm just trying to get to the bottom of the problem."

"Yeah, right," he said walking away. Caesar had called out an order that was ready, so Luke went and got the plate and brought it to the customer. When he returned, Lorelai resumed the conversation.

"I'm sorry, Ok?" She still had traces of a smile. "You were saying you found a hair." She clasped her hands together and sat up straight as if to show her seriousness.

"I was saying that I found a _grey_ hair," he corrected.

"In your head?" She asked while eyeing his baseball cap.

He sighed heavily and set his jaw. "No."

"Chest?" She asked eyebrows raised. He shook his head slowly. "Stomach?" She broke out in another wide grin. He regarded her for a few seconds before speaking.

"Look, it doesn't matter _where _I found it, Ok? The point is I found a grey hair." He folded his arms across his chest.

"Luke, you're almost 40," she said stating the obvious.

"I'm sure you have a point in there somewhere," he commented.

"You're almost 40! Of course you're going to find signs that let you know that soon those Early Bird Specials are going to have your name all over them." She finished off her coffee. "I'm surprised that you're just getting your first," she added.

He narrowed his eyes briefly at her. "You know what? I don't want to talk about this anymore." He started to walk away, but stopped when Lorelai reached over the counter and grabbed his arm.

"Hey, this is obviously bothering you, so please," She got serious; "talk to me. I'm all ears." She sat back on her stool and tucked her hair behind her ears removing any blockades.

He wanted to walk away and forget about the whole thing. He knew that he was risking all of his sanity by letting her hear anything too personal about him. What made him stay was the realization that while she was childish and annoying, she was, above all, an excellent friend. He figured she may be able to offer some insight. He'd just have to wait for it…through all the mocking.

He turned back and brought his hand up to adjust his cap; that was just him trying to get his thoughts together. He leaned on the counter and started to speak. "I'm getting old," he said meeting her eyes.

"Well, you're only a few years older than me. If you're getting old, I'm getting old. And frankly, I refuse to accept that."

"Well, whether I accept it or not, it's happening." Lorelai nodded sympathetically. "And…" he drifted off shaking his head all the while.

"And what?" she asked softly.

"And…I'm boring!" he said frowning.

"What?" Lorelai's voice curled around the word as the full brunt of his statement came crashing down upon her. Luke looked around once more to make sure Babette, Miss Patty, or any aspiring Babettes and Miss Pattys weren't tuned in.

"I don't do anything. I wake up. Serve coffee. Go to bed. And, then do it all over again the next day."

"Come on, Luke," Lorelai said. "You don't just sleep and work. You shower too, right?" He gave her a stern look. "Ok, serious. Sorry."

He continued on like there was no interruption. "I'm annoyed all of the time. When I'm annoyed, I'm grumpy—"

"Noooo!" Lorelai let slip.

He rolled his eyes at her and continued. "I'm getting old, and all I do is surround myself with stress." Lorelai softened at his upset, but she allowed him the floor. "I've never done anything that I can look back on and say, 'I did that. It's Ok that I'm getting old because I've had my fun'. I guess," he glanced down at his hands, "I need a break or something. I don't know."

Lorelai placed her hands atop his. "Then, take one. If you're feeling that strongly about it, maybe you _need_ to take a break."

He looked up from their hands and into her face. "No." He stood up and gently pulled his hands away. He shook his head and forced a weak smile. "I'm just talking. I just….freaked out after finding that grey hair on my…" He looked at her and looked away, changing the subject. "Thanks, Lorelai. Thanks for listening." He nodded to her and went about clearing customer's old dishes.

"Did I help?" Lorelai asked him as she watched him clean.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks." He gave her a brief full smile that she would have missed if she were not looking directly into his face.

"Anytime," she said wondering if she should just let it go. It was obvious to her that his recent discovery had really bothered him. But, she decided to drop it for the time being.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rory, you should've seen him." Lorelai was in her kitchen rummaging through the cabinets. "Auggh, stupid foodless house."

"Mom, go get something to eat."

"That'd require leaving the house, which I am really not in the mood to do."

"Are you in the mood to die of hunger?"

"I guess not. It's only cool to _look _as if you're about to die of hunger."

"Yeah, actually dying is so not in," Rory added.

"Ok, this is taking a very disturbing turn. Lane change?"

"Signaling as we speak. So, you were telling me about Luke."

"Yeah, Sweets. He was down. We've seen him grumpy, but it was almost like he was sad."

"Sad Luke? That must have been weird."

"Yep," Lorelai said as she took a seat at the kitchen table. "I've decided to upgrade my birthday present to him this year."

"I didn't know it was possible for them to get any better," she said mockingly.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Lorelai asked in a southern accent.

"A promise to pay for coffee for a week?"

"A nice gift. Any proprietor would be ecstatic."

"A free lap dance?"

"He has yet to cash that one in. It was all in good fun."

"A day free of mockery?"

"Hey, now! That was a good one. Any Stars Hollow resident would give their left shin to have that gift, Missy."

Rory chose to ignore her mother's ridiculous reasoning behind each present. "What are you going to do this year?"

"Ok, are you ready for this?"

"Sure," she responded halfheartedly.

"I have one word. Vacation."


	3. Chapter 3

"Lukey!" Lorelai sang as she entered the diner. "Where's the birthday boy?"

"Will you quiet down?" Luke said as he rushed up to her.

"Why?" She asked as she walked over to the counter. "Everyone knows your birthday, Flannel boy."

He eyed her. "How would they know? I've never told them."

"Really? Hunh, weird." She smiled wickedly. "Coffee, please," she said loudly. "Make it to-go, too. I have some last minute things to do at the Inn."

He grabbed a large Styrofoam cup and proceeded to fill it up. "What do you mean, last minute? It's 8:30 am."

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" She asked trying to conceal a smile.

"Tell me what?" He secured the lid on the cup and slid it over to her.

"I'm going out of town today."

"Really? Where are you going?" He tried to hide his minor disappointment that she'd choose his birthday to take a trip.

"Now, that would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"For who?"

"For you," she said simply.

"For me?" He poked himself in the chest. "Why would my knowing where you were going ruin the surprise for me?"

She turned her head upward at an angle as if she were considering his question. "You know, you are absolutely right. I guess you'd have to be there with me in order for it to really be a surprise." She pulled a couple of bucks from her purse and placed them next to her coffee. "Pack. I'll be back in a couple of hours." She flashed him a smile and got up to leave.

"Wait, what?" He asked. His hands rested on his hips as he leaned forward.

"You. Me. Trip. My things are ready and waiting in the jeep. Pack up some flannel, jeans, a couple of baseball caps, and let's go."

He shook his head rapidly to erase the confusion. "Lorelai, what are you talking about?"

She let out a frustrated sigh and took her seat again. She lowered her voice. "You told me you were stressed. So, my present to you is to try to de-stress you. I've talked to Lane and Caesar, so the diner's covered. It'll be a week, tops."

He stuttered a bit as he tried to think of a reason why the idea was insane. "Lorelai, I can't just, just…"

"You can't what?" She interrupted. "You need this. I could use this, so let's just do it together." She stifled a 'dirty'. She sensed his reluctance, still. "Please. It'll be fun." She put on a puppy dog face that Luke slowly began to fall for.

"And we leave today?" He asked disbelievingly.

She glanced at her watch. "As soon as I finish up at the Inn." She looked back at him, sensing his acceptance approaching. "So you in?"

He gave her a worn expression. "I'm in."

Lorelai broke out in a toothy grin. "Yay!" She hopped up and rushed toward the door. "Ok, I'll be back in a little bit," she said before disappearing.

He gave a weak wave to her back as she exited. "A stress-free week with _Lorelai_? That's an oxymoron. What have I gotten myself into?" He asked no one in particular.

TBC….

**I have a bad habit of writing instead of just typing it right out. Either way, I have much more than this written, but I have to find the time to type it. Please review and let me know what you think so far. Updates should come fairly quickly.**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I think I should let you guys know that I am not geographically inclined at all. In addition to that, many other details may be off as well. However, I don't really care b/c my main focus is Luke and Lorelai, so everything else is a very disposable pawn. That's just a heads up for the rest of the story. But please, feel free to comment about my inaccuracies in…where?...THE REVIEW PAGE. Other than that, enjoy, my beautiful cronies.

The Not So Huge Grey Area **PART 4**

"Lorelai, I am not going to keep listening to this."

"Oh, come on. This is Pink Floyd. How could you not like PINK FLOYD?" She asked as she alternated between looking at the road and him.

"It's easy. Turn it off," he said like he actually had two feet to stand on.

"Oh, all right," she said flicking the radio off. "But only because it's your birthday," she added with a rigid finger pointed at him.

"Lucky me."

Lorelai chose to ignore the sarcasm. "So, are you excited? Is the tension building?"

He gave her a look. "Well, let's see. We've been driving for 41/2 hours, 3 of which you spent completely unsure if you were going the right way. After NOT stopping for directions after refusing any help that I may be able to provide, you determined, and I quote," he raised his voice slightly and in his best Lorelai voice said, "Oh well, I'll just trust that my trusty jeep doesn't steer me wrong."

"And, what's wrong with that?" She asked genuinely, giggling at his _uncanny _impression.

"It's a jeep!" He yelled. "You're doing the steering. You can't trust a piece of metal to make decisions for you."

"You can do whatever you set your mind to, Lucas," she said encouragingly.

His rant continued. "We haven't seen a road sign since leaving Connecticut! We could be anywhere right now." He paused and ran his hands along his thighs like a nervous junkie. "But as long as we have Pink Floyd!" He said sarcastically motioning toward the tape deck.

"That's the spirit!" Lorelai conceded, ignoring the way the words were said. He just shook his head at her response. She looked over at him and saw how flustered he was. "Luke," she began in a semi-serious tone, "If I had taken the main highway, you would've known where we were going. That would ruin the 'surprise' in surprise trip."

"Well, call me crazy, but I don't want to risk your or my safety just to keep this a surprise."

"Our safety is not in jeopardy, Luke. If you would just calm down and trust—".

The jeep came to a screeching halt accompanied by a loud drilling noise. Luke and Lorelai jerked forward and it put an immediate end to her statement. Luckily, she had just made a left, so she hadn't gained much speed yet. They were wearing their seatbelts, so the jeep's action caused nothing more than discomfort for both of them.

They fell silent for a moment wondering what exactly had happened. They looked wide-eyed at the other and asked simultaneously, "Are you alright?" Then they said, again together, "I'm fine. How 'bout you?" They each let out a breath and smiled at the coincidence. Lorelai's eyes dropped down to the rest of Luke to make sure that he wasn't injured before looking over her own body. Luke did the same. Once he determined that no one's life was at stake, he immediately stepped outside of the car and started to scan the vehicle.

"That was weird," Lorelai said as she joined him outside of the jeep.

"Yeah, it was," he agreed. Both of them were gingerly rubbing the side of their neck. "Are you sure you're Ok?" Luke asked her worriedly.

"I'm fine. It's just my neck's a little stiff." She continued to rub.

"Yeah, mine too," he said, mimicking her actions on his own neck. "But other than that…"

"I'll live," she finished.

"Good."

"What do you think it is?" She asked him. He had bent down on the ground and was looking under the front tires.

"I'm not sure," he said standing up. "But, I am willing to bet that it's the bearings."

"English, please."

"For the brakes. They connect the brake pads to the wheel. The only way a car can just stop that violently is if the bearings were faulty or if the wrong size was used."

"Oh, boy. Are you going to be able to fix it?" She asked hopefully.

"Not without some tools and some more bearings." He breathed deep and went into thinking mode. "Did you have some brake work done?"

"Yeah, like a month ago," she said dejectedly.

"Where?"

"I don't know; some place in Hartford."

"You don't even know the name of the place?" He asked her confused.

She shrugged. "All I knew was the price, which was 20 percent less than everyone else was quoting me."

"Lorelai," he began, trying to keep emotion out of his voice, "This could have been so much worse. What if you were doing 70 on a major highway? You don't just take your car to anybody to be repaired. These people don't care about you. All they want is money. Was the guy even a professional?" He asked tossing his hands up.

"He had a nametag," she said lamely.

He looked at her sadly, but anger was bubbling inside of his gut. He spoke evenly. "When we get home, I want the address and telephone number of this place."

"Luke, don't worry about it. People make mistakes, Ok," she said in an effort to placate him.

"Not with your life, they don't!" He yelled.

She jumped slightly at his outburst. She stared at him for a while as he stood in place, looking down at the pavement. She could see that his face was flushed red from anger. Biting her lip, she wondered what she could say to bring the situation back to manageable levels. Luke, however, was the first to speak. He walked nearer to her. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell," he said softly. "I meant what I said, but I didn't mean to snap at you." He smiled reassuringly.

"It's fine," she said smiling back, happy to see him calming down. Lorelai wasn't completely sure why Luke had gotten so upset, but she just chalked it up to Luke being Luke. _He's probably about to fall short of his rant quota or something_. "So, what are we going to do?" She asked him.

"Um," he started to think. "We could call AAA. Where's your phone?" _Finally, a legitimate reason to have a tumor-causing portable telephone_, he thought.

"Aha!" She said, forgetting for the first time ever about her cell. She reached in the car and pulled it out. After pushing a few buttons, she came to the conclusion that she'd reached before pressing them—they were screwed. "Uh, slight problem," she said to Luke.

"What's that?" He asked as he stood in the middle of the road looking in vain for traffic. His hands hovered over his eyes to block the sun.

"Phone's dead."

"So charge it up. Don't you have a car charger?"

"Sure do. Kind of pointless, though, when the cigarette lighter's busted."

"Greeeeat," he said, not taking his eyes off of the road. He dropped his hands down to his sides with a loud slap. "Well, I hope you have some walking shoes."

Lorelai looked down at her heels. "Why?"

"Because since _someone_ wanted to pick a completely desolate stretch of highway, we don't even have the option of hitchhiking. The sun's going to go down in a couple of hours, so we have to at least try to find help or shelter."

"Well, it's going to be a little difficult to walk an unspecified distance and carry ten bags of luggage." Eight of the bags in the jeep belonged to her.

"I know. That's why we're going to leave 'em here."

Lorelai's eyes widened in shock. "What if someone steals them?"

"Who?" He did a 360 while he held his arms out like an eagle. "We haven't seen a car for the past half hour."

She looked at him desperately. "But—"

"Lorelai," he said defeated, "we can't stay here, and it'll be impossible to carry all those bags." He pointed toward the jeep. "We can take a couple, but that's it."

She sighed resignedly. "You are so going to regret it if someone steals my things, Mister."

"Something to look forward to," he deadpanned.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"A big juicy cheeseburger with extra bacon, a plate of curly fries seasoned to perfection, and a large chocolate milkshake with whipped cream on top." Lorelai munched on a small bag of BBQ potato chips as she walked quickly trying to keep up with Luke.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

"I'm just naming stuff I would love to be consuming right about now."

He looked down at her chip bag. "You are eating."

"Thanks for stating 'duuuh' obvious. I'm talking about real food. This is road food, Luke. It doesn't count."

"Of course not," he added acquiescingly.

Lorelai carried a backpack full of snacks and a 6-pack of bottled water. Luke carried one of his bags and two of hers. Still, he managed to move quicker than she. Her feet were adorned in Sketchers sneakers. She didn't have to look through her bags to know that she hadn't brought any tennis shoes, but after moving a bag, she discovered a pair underneath. She sent a silent 'thank you' to Rory, assuming she had stashed them in there some time ago.

"Oooh, oooh!" said Lorelai. "A large pizza with extra cheese and extra, extra pepperoni. Mmmm!" She munched louder on her chips.

They were walking on the right side of the road, had been walking for about an hour and had stopped being able to see the jeep. Luke turned back once again. He kept doing it periodically to see how far they'd come. When he turned around this time, though, something caught his eye. He stopped and had to call Lorelai's name to get her to stop as well. She was too enthralled in her fantasy menu.

"Look!" He said pointing down the road. The object appeared blurry under the sun's heat, but they both determined pretty quickly that it was their salvation. They stood there staring at the vehicle until it came into full view, prompting them to wave their hands maniacally. The driver began to pull over to the side an eighth of a mile before reaching them, but they took no chances and continued to wave anyway. When the truck came to a complete stop, Lorelai started to rush past Luke up to the truck, but he reached out and grabbed her hand. "Lorelai," he said low, "we don't know this guy. Calm down a little bit." He continued to hold her hand as they approached the cab of the truck. As they walked around to the passenger side, they noticed a car ramp and a fading sign that read _Fred's Tow Service_. They each let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, there," the driver said.

"Hi," they each said, slightly shocked. A woman sat in the driver's seat smiling pleasantly down at them.

Not only was the driver a woman, but she was gorgeous—too gorgeous to look like she'd drive for a towing company. She had long, curly black hair that she had tied up in the back. She was biracial, but the sun had still given her skin a beautiful sultry tan. The wifebeater she wore showed it off well. Her light brown eyes sparkled as she looked at them. Lorelai took all of that in in a matter of seconds. She wondered briefly what Luke was thinking.

"You guys look like you could use some help," she said brightly.

"You have no idea," Lorelai chimed in, shifting from foot to foot like she'd been walking for days.

"Is that your jeep a couple of miles back?" She asked them looking at Luke.

"Yeah," he answered. "We broke down a little while ago."

"Ok, hop in. I can tow you guys to town up here." She pointed to the road ahead. She began clearing the large seat to make room for the two of them.

"Thanks," Luke said. He opened the door and stepped back, allowing Lorelai to get in beside the woman. He felt that that was only appropriate. Lorelai scoffed at him lightly before climbing inside. _Like you don't want to sit next to her_, she thought.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

She introduced herself immediately. "Harmony", she'd offered. Lorelai fell in conversation with Harmony easily, telling her about Rory, the Inn, her friendship with Luke, as well as a general reason for their trip. Once Harmony found out it was Luke's birthday, she pushed aside Lorelai's conversation and picked up one with Mr. Monosyllable, himself.

"You're a Scorpio, too?" That's where it all started. Gradually, Lorelai started to feel like a third wheel, chipping in witty comments whenever appropriate (at least by her standards). When they made it to the jeep, Luke stepped outside with Harmony to see if she could use a hand, but she managed just fine. Lorelai sat in the cab listening intently to their exchange, since Luke chose to remain outside with her anyway. She overheard Harmony tell him that they were in Pennsylvania, and she smiled at Luke's stunned response.

On the way back, Lorelai rolled her eyes noticeably as Harmony expertly worked the question of Luke's relationship status into the conversation. It was painfully obvious to her what Harmony was doing, but Luke either didn't care or was really oblivious to it all. Then again, Lorelai was well aware of women's ability to sniff out another woman's game a mile away.

By the time they reached the small town, Lorelai felt nearly invisible as they conversed over her body. She still held the middle spot. Even when Luke tried to make an effort to bring her into the conversation, Harmony would find a way to knock her back out again—politely, of course. She found herself getting a little annoyed, but was very successful at keeping it under control.

Harmony dropped the jeep off at the local Goodyear, which was conveniently located on what could, arguably, be called the _strip_ of the small town. A Holiday Inn sign glowed clearly across the street, along with several restaurant signs.

"You know what? Don't even worry about it," Harmony said as she stood talking to them. "Consider it a gift. Happy Birthday, Luke." She climbed back into the truck before either could object.

"Are you sure?" We put you through a lot of trouble," Luke told her as he held money in his hand. He stood talking to her through the rolled down window.

She waved his comment away. "Of course, I'm sure. I'm just sorry I didn't get to you guys sooner. Now, you have to wait 'til the shop opens tomorrow."

"It's Ok," Luke said. "This seems like a nice town, so…" He looked around, "It's fine."

"Okay," she said, grinning in Luke's face for, what Lorelai could only assume was, the hundredth time. She had no idea why it was bothering her so much, but there was no denying that it was. "Bye Luke. Lorelai, nice to meet you," Harmony said.

"Yeah, you too. Harmony, is it?" She asked from her sideline position.

"Yes. Harmony," she confirmed clueless. She waved one last time before driving off.

"Well," Luke breathed out as he watched the truck disappear. "Thank God she drove by." He looked at Lorelai for confirmation.

"Yeah, thank God," she said lackadaisically.

"So, we're in Pennsylvania," Luke stated knowingly.

"We're in Pennsylvania," Lorelai confirmed.

"Are we _supposed_ to be in Pennsylvania?"

"Sure," she replied quickly.

"Really?" He asked her doubtfully.

"No."

He stared at her with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Fantastic," he said looking away.

TBC….

**Thank you all for the reviews so far. Reviews equal encouragement to continue, so by all means, encourage me….**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Hey there, everyone. Miss me yet? I know how frustrating it can sometimes be to wait for updates, so I'm trying to crank 'em out fast. How am I doing? Please read, review, review, review, and one more thing…review. Oh, and enjoy too. And, if it sounds like I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, it's probably b/c I don't. :-D Learn to laugh at yourself. Life becomes so much more fun!

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 5**

"I feel completely disgusting," Lorelai said as she took off her shoes.

"Then I take it you'll be the first to shower."

They decided that it was pointless to get separate rooms. They were both adults. Getting one room with two beds would do just fine. "If you insist," she said as she gathered some things and went into the bathroom.

Lorelai ended up taking a twenty-five minute shower. She wasn't used to sweating so much and walking in the sun's heat had caused her to perspire a lot more than she preferred. The water felt good as it cascaded down on her, and though she wanted to stay in there all night, she knew that Luke still had to shower. She wanted there to be hot water left for him too.

She came out towel-drying her hair. "Now before you say anything, I—". She looked up to find Luke fast asleep on top of the covers.

Though he looked peaceful, it didn't occur to her to just let him be. "Luke," she called. No response. He breathed deeply as he lay on his back with his hands propped underneath his head. "Luke!" She called louder. Still nothing. She walked over and stood beside his bed. She noticed that he had taken off his flannel and was wearing a light grey undershirt. She watched him for a moment, wondering, to no avail, why on earth he'd choose to keep his body under so many clothing. Judging by the definition in his arms, he seemed to have a nice upper frame. This came as a shock to her. After nearly ten years of knowing the man, she had no idea what all that flannel hid. She nodded approvingly. Going back to her original objective, she called again, "Luuuuke!" He shifted ever so slightly, but did not wake up.

She let out a sigh and looked around the room. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She grinned devilishly as she made her way over to her backpack. She pulled out a bottle of water and returned to his bedside. After twisting the cap off, she held it over his torso and contemplated her actions. _Why not_? She thought. She began to poor slowly, causing his shirt to cling tightly to his body revealing slight cuts in his stomach. _Luke has a freaking six-pack_, she thought. Lorelai mouthed a silent, _Oh, my god_! as she halted the pouring. She felt her cheeks flush. Her mouth hung open like a tigress seeing a nice titillating piece of gristle. She caught herself and shut it quickly.

Luke still hadn't woken up, but he had started to stir. Lorelai noticed this, and she tilted the bottle, causing a small downpour to soak his front. She was careful not to get any on the bed.

"What the hell!" Luke said jerking awake. He looked around, spotting Lorelai immediately as she clumsily tried to run away from the scene of the crime. He stared after her until she made it to the mirror, pretending to have been there the whole time. "What did you do?" He asked patting down his wet shirt.

"Hunh?" She inquired turning around innocently.

"_Hunh_?" He said mocking her. Lorelai smiled at the more playful side of his anger. It so rarely made an appearance. He reached down and picked up the water bottle on the floor. He held it up to her, "Exhibit A." He stood up and started peeling off his shirt. "You do realize that you just interrupted the ONLY stress-free moment I've had all day, don't you?"

Lorelai stood brushing her hair in the mirror and suddenly saw a shirtless Luke in the same mirror. Her brushing strokes slowed, but her heart made up for it by beating at double-speed. She tore her eyes from the mirror and looked down in an effort to steady her breathing. "Ok?" He said walking up behind her.

"What?" She asked him turning slightly.

"I said," he walked up closer. She could feel his body heat all of a sudden. "Sleep with one eye open." A shiver ran rapidly down her spine.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Lorelai was more than halfway finished blow-drying her hair when Luke decided to take a shower. She had told him that she hadn't used all the hot water, but he chose to wait just the same.

By the time he came out, Lorelai was propped up on her bed watching TV and eating a pop-tart in the dark.

"We just ate dinner before coming to the room," Luke reminded her.

"And now I'm having dessert," she concluded.

"It'll be a miracle if you live to see 60."

"My super, mega, fabu-cool metabolism will protect me."

"Sure, it will," he said.

"It will. You just don't want--. W-what are you doing?" She asked him as he approached her bed carefully. Both his hands were behind his back.

"Nothing." A wide grin broke out across his face as he pulled the bathroom trashcan from behind his back. A confused look crossed Lorelai's face until she heard water sloshing around inside. Before she could react, Luke poured the water all over the bed and her. He knew how much effort it took her to dry her hair, so he made sure not to get any near her head. Her sitting position made that really easy. The rest of her, however, was soaked. He clicked on the light to get a good look at his work.

She sat gasping like she was drowning in a lake or something. Even though her face hadn't received a drop of water, she gasped. Mainly out of shock.

"I can't believe you did that!" She said.

"_Hunh_?" Luke said, imitating her earlier usage of the word. He started to laugh—softly at first, but as Lorelai moved about, making it really clear how thoroughly she'd been soaked, he laughed harder and harder. He lay back on his own bed and continued to laugh uncontrollably. It was truly a sight for Lorelai. She, momentarily, forgot all about her current predicament as she watched him roll around.

She found herself laughing because he was. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't grinning. He was laughing. Hard. She had never heard him laugh, and the sound caused her to just stop and take notice. Almost instantly, she tried to commit the sound to memory. It was already proving to be extremely invaluable.

His glee finally started to subside. She sat looking over at him. "You finished yet?" She asked smiling wide.

"Oh man," he said to the ceiling. He breathed heavily. "Woo, Ok, I'm done," he said sitting up. He was as red as a beet.

Lorelai shook her head at him and finally went back to her own situation. She stood up and dripped water to the floor. "I hope you know that you now have to share your bed."

He became suddenly serious and slightly embarrassed. Since his face was already red, Lorelai figured him to be embarrassed through his voice. "Yeah, uh, uh, of course, I guess."

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go re-shower to heat up." She grabbed one of her bags and waddled to the bathroom, mumbling about freezing to death.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

When Lorelai emerged from the bathroom, Luke was already situated on the left side of the bed. The sheets were pulled down on her side, but Luke was, like earlier, lying on top of the covers.

"You can get under, you know," she said climbing into the bed.

"Yeah, I know," he said dismissively.

She got comfortable in the bed and twisted her neck to look at him. She immediately regretted it. "Ow!" She yelped grabbing her neck.

"You Ok?" Luke asked sitting up a little.

Pain raced across her shoulder blades. "Does it look like I'm Ok?" She snapped.

"Sorry. Dumb question."

"No, I'm sorry." She tried to sit up. "I just—ow! Dammit!" She leaned back and closed her eyes, allowing the pain to pass. It had been hurting off and on all day, but she had, mostly, been able to ignore it.

"Lorelai, maybe you should—"

"I'm fine, Luke. It doesn't hurt as bad when I sit up like this. I'll just stay this way."

"You gonna sleep like that?"

"Unless I want to pass out from the pain, I don't have much of a choice," she said.

"You can't sleep sitting up, Lorelai."

"Yes I can. If bats can sleep upside down, I can sleep with a headboard in my back."

"That's ridiculous."

"You have any better ideas?" She asked, expecting that to be the end of the conversation.

He reached up and scratched his head, exhaling loudly. "Scoot up," he ordered.

"Excuse me?" She asked with attitude. It was obvious the pain was taking over.

"Slide up on the bed a little bit," he said softly. He hopped off of the bed and went into his bag for lotion. He pulled out some Jergens.

Not even the pain could keep away her response. "You use Jergens lotion?" She chuckled. "My, my Luke, I didn't know you were so delicate."

He stopped and glared at her. "It's for guys too, Ok?" He walked around the bed to her side. "I use my hands a lot, so I have to use moisturizing lotion so they don't get all…" He made a face, "Hard and callused."

She continued her ridicule. "Whatever you have to tell yourself." She gripped her neck as she turned to look at him. "I mean, truly, Lucas, I would have never guessed that you'd care about that sort of thing."

"Learn something new everyday," he deadpanned. He stood over her. "Ok, I'm gonna," he motioned with his hands, "…climb behind you." He paused. "That Ok?"

"It's, uh, fine," she said hesitantly wondering what he was about to do. If it were anyone but Luke, she would have had to know exactly what was going on step-by-step with signed notarized agreements. But, it was Luke. He had earned her trust ten times over.

He climbed into the bed carefully. Once in place, she was positioned between his legs as his right foot rested on the floor. He took a deep breath and tried to get used to their new position. Lorelai's reaction was the same as his, but it took a backseat to the pain running through her neck.

Luke popped open the lotion bottle and squirted a generous amount in his palm. Before he poured water on her, she wore a winter-y cotton ensemble with bunny prints all over, but she had since changed into a tank top and a pair of drawstring pants. He guessed that her second shower must have heated her up a bit. Either way, her current top provided him easy access.

He slathered the lotion between his hands and slowly brought his hands to her upper back. She jumped slightly at the contact but relaxed soon thereafter into his touch. He started rubbing lightly, almost as if any pressure would cause her to de-materialize. After no time at all, he fell comfortably into what, a few of his exes told him, he had been born to do. He worked skillfully around her neck before attacking any knot that seemed out of place.

Lorelai was thanking everything holy that he could not see her face. She was, at the moment, succeeding in keeping any sounds to a minimum, but she could sense her face displaying nothing but pleasure. She couldn't put into words what he was doing to her. His hands ground into her so thoroughly that she found herself clutching the bedspread to keep from reaching around and massaging something of his. It was a natural feeling. A situation like this—somebody making somebody else feel that good—didn't happen without being followed by some hardcore---, "Lorelai, is this Ok?" He asked.

"Oh my God, yes, Luke," she said on one long breath. She had said his name millions of times—in all kinds of ways. Shock. Anger. Surprise. Mock flirtation. The list could go on. But never had she said it the way it came out on that breath, and it didn't go unnoticed by Luke. He heard her, and though his heart leapt momentarily into his eyeballs, he remained focused on his task. He had found it. He'd found the very rough strain in her neck that was bothering her so much, and he started to gently knead at it.

Lorelai's head fell weakly in the opposite direction of where he was working. He smoothly reached his right hand around and cupped her face while his left hand worked fervently. She sluggishly lifted her head from his palm, and he used his suddenly empty hand to massage the other side of her neck. There was no knot there, but Luke decided to even out the sensation. She used what little strength she was being left with to scoot back a little toward him. If he kept it up, she feared she would do much more than get a little closer.

Luke's hand movement slowed, and he began to kind of smooth his hands over her skin. Just like that, he stopped. He let out a tired sigh. "There. You should be able to sleep now."

Lorelai loosened her grip on the sheets and slowly made her way back to Earth. She'd been soaring for the past half hour. She didn't exactly hear what Luke had said but as she became cognizant, she was able to piece the words together from her psyche and form a pretty decent gist.

She reached up and rubbed her neck, a neck that she could've sworn had been replaced. "Yeah, I feel much better." She was vaguely aware of the small amount of huskiness in her voice. "Thank you so much." She slowly climbed off of the bed so that he would be able to move.

"No problem." He said it like it was nothing. He rolled over with a grunt and stretched his cramped muscles a bit.

Lorelai put every inch of willpower she had into not looking over at him. She didn't, at the moment, trust herself to do so. She settled herself under the covers and reached up and turned off the lamp.

"Goodnight, Luke," she said over her shoulder. She was scooted all the way to the edge so as not to touch him accidentally in the dark.

"G'night," he responded.

After a few minutes of silence, Lorelai called out, "Hey, Luke?"

"Yeah?" He asked with a yawn.

"How's your neck?" She held her breath.

"Oh, my neck's fine," he answered. "It was just a little temporary crick."

_Oh, thank God_, she thought. "Okay," she said nonchalantly. She was relieved, but she found disappointment laced throughout the feeling. "But, if you want me to, you know, massage you, just let me know."

"No, I'll be fine."

"I mean, it is _your_ birthday. It's only fair."

"Lorelai, I'm fine, thank you."

"But, if you change—"

"Lorelai," he said jadedly.

"Okaaaay." She remained silent for all of ten seconds. "Luke?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry that you had such a crappy birthday. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"It's Ok. It's not your fault." He paused. "Besides, today wasn't so bad." With that, he fell silent.

Lorelai lay in the dark quietly. She tried not to read too much into his statement, but she couldn't help but think of Harmony. _What are the chances he's thinking about her?_ She thought.

TBC….

**I can't say this enough… _thanks to all the reviewers_. Just take a moment and hug yourselves…and say it's from me. Seriously, you all are the reason why this story's continuing to get added to. So, please type in your thoughts via the review button. Thx.**


	6. Chapter 6

I AM SO SORRY about the wait. I never intended to make you all wait a whole week. I absolutely hate for people to wait on me. But, in my defense, I have been reeeeeeally busy working and stuff. To rectify this, I decided to take my only day of freedom and type the whole story out, so that you all won't have to wait anymore. My hands are killing me, but I have so much love for you guys that it's completely worth it. Thank you for the great reviews!!!!! And FYI, I decided to go there! ;-)

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 6**

Lorelai burst into the room. "Luke!" She smiled brightly at him as he sat at the small round table watching television. "Guess what we're doing today."

"Sitting here and waiting 'til the car's fixed," he said as he continued to watch the TV.

She walked over and stood in front of the screen. "That's going to take all day. They said they had to order another rim thingy from somewhere else," she reminded him. "We," she said trying to create a buildup, "are going to Allentown."

He stared at her blankly. "Do you mind moving away from the TV, please?"

"Luke," she whined stomping in place. "We can't just sit here all day." She walked over and sat in the other chair. "Teresa and Danny are going to Dorney Park in Allentown. They asked if we wanted to go and I said 'yes'!"

He turned toward her. "Who are Teresa and Danny?"

"The couple next door. They're from Wyoming. They came to PA to visit Teresa's sister, but they're going to stop at Dorney Park on the way," she explained.

"And how exactly did you meet these people?" he asked.

"I was in the lobby getting coffee, which, by the way sucked, and I met Teresa down there. We started talking, and now we're going to Dorney Park with them!" She clapped her hands excitedly.

"No, we're not."

"Why?" She complained.

"Because we don't know these people. They could be cannibals or something. Why you feel compelled to talk to every strange person you see is beyond me." She stared at him for a moment before a smile crept onto her face.

"Well, _Grey Anatomy_," she said baiting him, "If you and your old, decaying body can't take a little bit of fun, then I guess I'll just have to understand." She sat back in the chair and crossed her arms with a smirk on her face.

She had hit a soft spot with Luke, and though he wanted more than anything to ignore her, he'd been affected by her words. He started to watch TV again in an attempt to appear carefree, but her words echoed loudly in his head. With a loud huff, he turned to look at her.

"What is Dorney Park?" he asked tensely.

She smiled wide. "It's an amusement park. It has roller coasters and cotton candy and candy apples. Ooh, and those funnel cakes with powdered sugar…"

"And they're taking us?"

"Yep."

"Are they bringing us back?" Luke knew fully who he was dealing with.

She hesitated. "I told you, they're just stopping there on their way to see Teresa's sister."

He frowned at her. "So, we're going to be _stranded_?!"

"Well, if that's how you're going to look at it…"

"Is there any other way _to_ look at it?"

"Of course." She smiled broadly. "As an adventure."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"I can't believe you made me get on that," Luke told Lorelai as they exited the biggest roller coaster in the park.

"Just the beginning, my friend. Just the beginning."

"Luke, man, you screamed louder than both our girls here," Danny said while hugging Teresa close. Luke and Lorelai exchanged a look and gave each other an embarrassed _oh well_ sort of look. They both had caught the implication.

"I didn't scream," he defended weakly. "I was just surprised because…of all the…wind sifting…" He started to lightly chuckle at his own explanation. Lorelai stared at him with a smile of her own. Every since they had gotten to the park, Luke had become almost giddy.

He would point to various rides and attractions and mention to one of the others (mainly Lorelai) how he wouldn't mind 'trying that out'. He smiled and laughed nonstop like a child on a candy high. Lorelai was happy with the locale too, but Luke's behavior added a whole new dimension of feel good to it.

At one point, Lorelai was walking in front of him, and according to him, she was walking too slow. So, he gave her a playful push to speed her along. She turned around, a fleeting puzzled look crossing her features. Luke didn't playfully push. Upon seeing him address her like _what are you going to do about it?_, she lunged toward him, only to have him move quickly out of the way. She stumbled a bit, and he reached over to steady her. Once she had recovered, he started to move around Danny and Teresa while she tried to get to him. He exhausted that and started speed walking in and around complete strangers while she was chasing behind him, laughing almost to the point of tears.

Luke's conduct was definitely addictive. It was a complete turnaround from how he had been on the way to Dorney Park. He sat in the backseat of Danny and Teresa's rental like an anti-social delinquent that they'd offered a ride to. Somewhere in Lorelai's conversation with the couple, it was determined that both Danny and Teresa were extremely outdoorsy. That's when Luke began to take interest. He started to add in a comment every so often. By the time that they reached Dorney Park, he had uncrossed his arms and was carrying on about his most significant forest tales.

By the time the sun began to set, the four of them had ridden almost every adult ride in the park. Lorelai had consumed two hotdogs, a slushy, and a whole funnel cake, and Luke had been successful in not scolding her for it.

"Well, we're going to take off, now," Teresa said. "Are you guys sure you're Ok in getting back?"

"We'll manage just fine," Lorelai said grabbing Luke around his arm. He just nodded to go along with her.

"Ok, then, pleeeease keep in touch," Teresa said before hugging them both. They had exchanged telephone numbers earlier.

"You too," they both said. Danny reached around and shook both their hands as he wished them the best.

Luke and Lorelai watched them go, feeling slightly empty when their foursome became a twosome. Yet, neither of them could pick anyone better to complete the twosome.

"You want to ride the big one again?" Luke asked her suddenly.

'_Dirty_!' She mouthed looking sexily at him. Throughout the course of the day, she'd found herself feeling very differently toward Luke, and this is what kept her from fully exploring the nature of his comment. Any other time, she'd let him have it because with a statement like that, he would have asked for it.

"The big _roller coaster_," he specified with an eye roll.

"Sure. Or…" She stared off into the distance.

"Or what?" He asked trying to see what she was looking at.

"Or that." She pointed toward a building.

"What's that place?" She grabbed his hand and loosely linked her fingers with his own. She pulled him behind her as she walked into the building.

"Oh no, no, no," Luke said directly upon stepping inside. "I am not doing this."

"Oh, come on. It'll be so much fun." He shook his head.

"No," he said firmly.

She walked up close to him. "Luke, when will you get the chance to do this again?"

"Hopefully never!" She cocked her head to the side and eyed him. He tried to avoid looking at her, but his eyes kept falling back to her face. "Dammit, let's get it over with!"

"You really need to work on your pickup lines, Luke." Lorelai walked up to the storekeeper and spoke with him briefly before she and Luke were pulled aside and given various pieces of costume clothing. Once they had put on all of the garments, they stepped in front of the fake Western scene. Luke continued to shake his head as an unwanted smile played at the corners of his mouth. "You know you're loving this," Lorelai teased as she lightly poked his cheeks. He gently swatted her hand away.

"Why do I let you convince me to do stuff like this? I can't believe I'm doing this."

"I can," she said smiling. "Hey, this cowboy hat is giving that baseball cap of yours a run for its money." He blushed slightly as he tilted his hat toward her the way he'd seen cowboys on TV do. This was the point when Lorelai feared her face would get stuck in a permanent smile. She'd been doing it so much lately.

"Ok, you guys can just hit a couple of different poses, and we'll keep the best one," the camera operator said. For the first few, Luke just stood there looking annoyed while Lorelai embellished every beautiful actress pose there was. With a nudge from Lorelai, he tried to relax a little more by interacting with her. His discomfort was captured wholly by the photographer.

"Ok, uh, I tell you what, why don't you," he said pointing to Luke, "put your foot on that crate there." Luke did as he was asked, and he naturally bent down and rested one elbow on his thigh. "Perfect," he said of his lean. "Now," he said hesitating, "work with that right there." He went back behind the camera.

Luke and Lorelai stared at the man like he was crazy. Both were thinking the same thing—_does he think that he just did something_? They slowly turned their heads to look at the other and upon seeing the same expression, they started to laugh. Lorelai's laughter faded first, and she was left with traces of that damn smile again as she watched Luke. His foot was still on the crate and he had dropped his head low as he worked to gain control of himself. He slowly brought his head up straight and was caught by the camera's flash.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Now, it wasn't easy to find a good picture because you seemed so tense," the man said to Luke. They had both taken off the costumes and were waiting to be presented with their picture. "But on the last shot, I found a gem." He gave Lorelai the framed 8 x 10 shot.

She was speechless. Luke looked like a real cowboy as he faintly smiled at the camera with a gleam in his eyes—a sexy cowboy—the movie version of a cowboy—one who is, in real life, one of Maxim's most desired. She couldn't tear her eyes away from him as the fake sunset went down behind him.

"Look at you," Luke said over her shoulder. He was pointing to her in the picture. She followed his finger, having completely forgotten that she was in the picture too. Everything that she'd been feeling all day as she watched him enjoy himself was unmistakably present on her face in the picture. She hoped like hell that no one, most of all, Luke, would pick up on it.

"Yeah, look at me," she said distractedly. In the photo, she was smiling down at him with her hands folded over her chest. She was standing at Luke's 4 o'clock position so her facial expression was fully visible. It was almost like the picture had been staged.

"You look," Luke sounded as if he were choking on the word, "you did a good job posing," he concluded lamely.

"Thanks, Luke," she said of his awkward compliment.

"You both look absolutely wonderful," the cameraman said. "He looks like your average cocky, handsome cowboy, and she looks like a local beauty who's completely infatuated with him, but she's fighting it. You see the way she's looking at him there?" He had taken the photograph from Lorelai and was referring to it like the people in it weren't standing right next to him.

Lorelai was sure her heart had stopped for a split second. She stood looking at the man evilly, but he was too focused on the picture to notice.

"Why don't you two go ahead and take this? On the house." He handed it back to Lorelai and walked away.

"Really? We really don't mind—" Luke started.

"No," the man said cutting him off. "That's quite alright. It's been a while since I've seen one that good." He walked towards the back and yelled over his shoulder, "You lovebirds get out of here before I change my mind."

They both stared after him. Lorelai was scared to move. Scared to talk. She didn't know what Luke was thinking, or what, if anything he wanted to ask her. He answered all of her worries with one comment. He shrugged his shoulders and said a low "weirdo" before turning to her and asking gladly, "Big roller coaster?"

"Let's go," she said as she sent up a silent 'thank you' for Luke's cluelessness.

TBC…


	7. Chapter 7

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 7**

"If we get caught, we are so going to jail, Luke."

"Get busy living or get busy dying," he replied.

"_Shawshank Redemption_," she said snapping her fingers like they were playing 20 questions.

"I'm sure they weren't the first to use that expression."

"Well, it was the first time that I heard it, so I declare the birthing place of the phrase within the confines of Shawshank prison." She paused and glanced around. "Speaking of prison, Luke, while I am really fond of this new, free-spirited you, I must say, I don't think I'd ever forgive you if I ended up in one with a female Bubba breathing down my neck."

They were in the local park perched underneath a family of trees. They were sitting outside of the tent that Luke had pitched. After leaving Dorney Park, they had gone to a nearby shopping mall at Lorelai's request. She managed to expertly refuse Luke's very loud objections. He felt that taking a cab back to the hotel would have been the next and most logical ending to the day, but she insisted over and over until he gave in just so she could hush.

She went from shoe shop to shoe shop dragging Luke along with her. After trying on, what Luke would guess was, millions of pairs of shoes, she ended up with not one pair. Just as the mall was closing, they passed a shop that Luke all of a sudden took great interest in. He had stopped and was staring through the window with a conspirator smile on his face.

"Luke," said Lorelai, noting his hesitance, "camping equipment makes me happy too, but we have to get going, Ok?" She lightly pulled on his arm, but he didn't budge. He turned to her and smiled wider before turning and heading in the shop.

Lorelai decided to let him have his fun since she'd been trying on shoes for the past hour. But she, unlike Luke, decided not to accompany him inside. She, instead, chose to take a seat on a nearby bench. Not five minutes later, Luke emerged and, spotting Lorelai, went to stand in front of her. She sat picking her nails, but upon looking up, she was surprised at what she saw.

"Why did you buy all of this stuff? I thought you were just going in to 'ooh' and 'aah' at all the disgusting animal wall hangings."

"Come on, they're closing," he said starting to walk toward the exit with both arms full.

"I want to know what you're going to do with all of this," she said walking rapidly beside him.

"You'll see," he said simply.

Once outside, he and Lorelai walked down the street a ways. Lorelai continued to question his actions, but he gave her no information, only a few 'trust mes' and 'relaxes'. They didn't have to walk very far before they were standing in front of a recreational park. A large chain hung from two wooden posts in front of where they stood. On the chain was the word 'Closed'.

"Um," Lorelai began looking at Luke, "I hate to be a killjoy here, but why are we standing in front of a park in the dark of night when we should be flagging down a cab?" She started to ramble. "I mean, I was kind of looking forward to the actual 'flagging down' part. I've seen it on TV, but I don't think you can really appreciate the art of 'flagging down' a cab until you've actually flagged down a cab." She started to giggle. "Why do you think they call it flagging? Because if you think about it, a simple—"

"Lorelai, please," Luke said looking around for any kind of Officials. After establishing they would not get caught, he reached out his hand. He couldn't see anything over the large bag so, he instructed Lorelai to take his outstretched hand. She did so. That was the first action she hadn't questioned since leaving the mall. After feeling her hand securely in his own, he ducked underneath the chain, and she followed him. The area was well lit, but it wasn't lost on Lorelai how it was clearly not to be trespassed on—the 'Closed' sign being the first clue.

"Luke," she said squeezing his hand tightly, "Can you please tell me what we're about to do? If we wait too long to get a cab, we might not be able to find one." She sounded a little frightened. They'd been walking for some time and Luke suddenly stopped and dropped the bags in a back area of the park. He managed to drop the bags without letting go of her hand. He turned toward her and grabbed her other hand. He'd heard her voice waver as she spoke.

"Are you scared?" he asked her bending at the knees a little to get eye to eye with her.

Her heartbeat quickened as she met his gaze. At that moment, she was scared of the possibilities. She was scared of the feelings that seemed to grow every time she was really near to him. She was scared that their recent adventures were unearthing feelings that she was finding out had been buried like a time capsule inside of her. She was scared that she'd found a person of the opposite sex who she knew she'd never want to push away. He'd crossed that line years ago. For that—for all of that—she was scared to death. Everything else she could deal with.

"No," she said quietly.

"Good." He started to swing their hands. "Because this is where we're sleeping," he said eagerly.

She stopped the swinging and started to look down at all of his equipment—a quick pitch tent, a small lamp, and two sleeping bags. It came together for her quickly. "You're joking, right?"

She was clearly not amused and Luke picked up on it. He dropped his smirk and stepped a little closer.

"Look, I know this isn't the Radisson," he said to her. "But the way that I see it, neither of us has ever done anything like this. It was a spur of the moment thing for me, and really, how many of those am I going to have?" She smiled at that, but he went on. "It seems pretty safe out here." He looked around. "And you know I would never let anything happen to you." They shared a look before he looked away, looking upward. "The sky is beautiful, too. Who wouldn't want to go to sleep to that?" He pointed to the star-filled sky. She looked up too, but Luke's eyes seemed to be more of an attraction as she gazed back at him. "Plus," he added interrupting her thoughts, "you owe me. If I never see another woman's shoe store again, it'd be too soon." He had convinced her with the first couple of words spoken, but he didn't need to know that.

"The room service menu probably sucks out here," she said. She looked around as if she were really looking for one. "But, I guess I can make an exception just this once. Set it up, Mountain Man," she said as she pointed to the equipment.

He broke out in a grin and started getting everything ready.

They were both sitting on the ground outside of the tent. Luke gave Lorelai an amused look at her mention of Bubba and prison. He found it slightly thrilling that they were doing something that could very well land them in cell block D. The only thing that kept the excitement from turning into scared paranoia was his confidence that they wouldn't get caught. He figured they'd be up and gone before daybreak.

"Oh, no," Lorelai said. She sat up on her knees as she leaned toward him. "It's bleeding." She pointed to the scratch below his eye. He brought his hand up and touched it, affirming her observation.

"Thanks. I appreciate this, by the way," he said of his scratch.

"I said I was sorry. How was I supposed to know you were walking up behind me?"

"You could have tried not swinging your hands around, deciding at that precise moment to reenact a scene from _The Wind is Gone_."

"First of all, it's _Gone With the Wind_. Secondly, I couldn't help it, the stars inspired me."

"Yes, and people in your mental state inspire me to keep a number for local psych wards handy."

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." He looked blankly at her. "It's a famous line from the movie!" She defended in a 'duh' voice.

"Did I want to know that?"

"Probably not. Consider it volunteered information."

"Yeah, well, next time have a sign-up sheet that I can NOT sign."

"Funny," she said casually. She reached down, grabbed her purse, and started to dig through it.

"What are you doing?"

She continued to dig. "I think I have one of those tiny first aid kits in here somewhere."

"In your purse?" He asked incredulously.

"No," she began sarcastically, "In my suitcase back at the hotel. I was hoping that if I dug far enough in my purse, I'd hit a teleportation button that'd allow me access to it."

"Why do I even bother?" He asked staring back at the sky.

"Bingo!" She said pulling out a tiny plastic case. "You are in luck, my friend." She took out a band-aid and an alcohol packet. "Ok, hold your head up," she instructed. She brought the lamp closer to him so she could have sufficient lighting.

"I can do it myself," he said trying to grab at the materials. She stretched it out of his reach.

"Luke, you can't even see it. Just let me do it for you." Reluctantly, he gave in and held his head up for easier access. She scooted closer and brought the open alcohol wipe up to his face. "This is going to sting a little bit," she warned. She wasn't sure why, but her close proximity caused her voice to drop to an almost whisper. She gently touched the wipe to his face, and he flinched a bit. "Sorry," she said. She wiped the wound thoroughly before dropping it disgustedly and picking up the band-aid. While she took off the backing, she looked up at Luke. His eyes were closed as he waited for her to finish.

She pressed the band-aid gently to his face and spent more time than was necessary smoothing it down.

"You have great eyelashes," she said softly as her thumbs rubbed the edges of the band-aid.

"I do?" He sounded like he'd never heard such a compliment.

"Yeah…they're beautiful." That had come out of her mouth before entering the processing phase. Nothing new. She tried to recover. "I mean, as far as eyelashes go." _Nice, Lorelai_, she thought. He opened his eyes and focused on her.

"Thanks." Luke figured since they had entered the complimenting stage, he'd take advantage of it. Swallowing hard, he replied, "I love your eyes. Not only are they placed well…" He gave her a look reminding her of the time he'd said that in front of Rachel. She chuckled at the memory. "…but they're beautiful." A moment passed, and they welcomed the idyllic still. "I mean, as far as eyes go," he said mocking her.

"Thanks," she said faking offense.

"You're welcome." He reached up and touched the band-aid. "Am I good, now?"

"You're good."

"Ok," he said standing up, "Bed?"

"You really think I'm that easy?"

He looked at her pointedly. "You are anything but easy."

"Oh, Luke," She placed her hand over her heart, "You had me at 'you'."

"Shut up and get in your sleeping bag."

"And if I don't will you spank me for being a bad girl?" Luke just rolled his eyes and decided that it was safer to just bow out.

They both went into the tent and zipped themselves up in their respective bags. Sleep came easily as the crickets lulled them into dreamland.

TBC….


	8. Chapter 8

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 8**

The sun was just beginning to rise when Lorelai felt a bright light on her face. She didn't know what time it was, but she was sure that their tent should have been blocking a large portion of the sun. She sluggishly opened her eyes and was shocked to see a uniformed police officer standing at the entrance of the tent. He had a flashlight which he held no qualms about shining directly into their faces.

"Can you two come out here, please," he said in a solid tone.

"Sure, Officer," Lorelai said nervously. She began to push Luke. "Uh, Luke, dear, we have company." She smiled at the policeman as she continued to shove Luke.

"What?" Luke asked a little disoriented. He rolled around, clearly oblivious to the seriousness of why he'd been woken up.

"Remember that comment about Bubba?" She spoke softly and kept her eyes on the cop.

"Mmm," he responded. It almost seemed like he thought that by keeping his eyes shut, he wouldn't really wake up.

"Well, um, that is rapidly becoming a possibility. Wake up!" She shoved him hard.

"What?!" He finally opened his eyes to look at Lorelai, but his attention was immediately redirected to the Officer.

"Step outside, please," the Officer repeated. If Luke wasn't awake before, he definitely was now. He moved his lips, but no words came out.

"You _do_ have the right to remain silent," Lorelai whispered to him jokingly.

"I'm glad you can still maintain your humor here," he whispered back. They both got up and stumbled out of the tent, bumping into one another. The Officer stepped back and looked them over. He held a no nonsense tone as he spoke.

"Do you guys realize that this is a restricted area?"

"It's a park," Lorelai stated. Luke threw her a glance that told her that getting smart probably wasn't the best move.

"Yes' sir. We do realize that," Luke said quickly in an effort to make up for Lorelai's comment.

"This _park_," he said glancing at Lorelai "is not open for public use between the hours of 9 and 8." He looked behind them to their tent. "And there is no camping here."

"Yeah, uh, that---" Luke began, glimpsing back at the tent. Lorelai jumped in.

"…Is because my husband here," She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, "Lost his wallet in Dorney Park. Have you ever been there?" The Officer just stared at her. "Well, it's a wonderful park. Anyway, we didn't have any money for a hotel, but we did happen to have some old camping equipment in the backseat of our car…" Luke stood as still as a board. He was becoming more humiliated with every word that Lorelai spoke because he was sure it'd just end them in more trouble. He also felt nervousness settling in his stomach from the way her body was pressed against his side. Lorelai, however, seemed completely comfortable as she continued to screw with the Officer's intelligence.

"…It was late; we didn't want to sleep on a bench, so…we came here to this beautiful park." The policeman stared at them for a long moment before tossing a quick glance back to the spot where their tent was set up.

"This is a restricted area. Next time, please find other _last minute_ lodgings." He looked them both in the eye making sure everyone was on the same page before he turned to walk away. "Oh, and by the way," he said turning back, "do you know how long they're going to have the 50 off sale?"

Luke and Lorelai turned at the same time to discover the larger than life sales tag on the bottom of the tent. They turned to look at each other before turning back to the Officer. Lorelai opened her mouth to speak and Luke prepared himself for the array of ridiculous things that were about to come spilling out. Luckily, the Officer spoke first. "You guys have a nice day," he simply said as he headed for the gate.

They stood there for a long time before either of them spoke.

"I hope you're proud of yourself. You made us look really stupid," Luke said. This caused Lorelai to jump immediately on the defense.

"Me? You should be thanking me right now. At least I tried to fix the situation," she said almost laughing.

"By doing what? You lied to him and he knew you were lying to him. We could have been arrested just because you felt the need to be funny."

"I wasn't being funny! That could have really happened. People lose money all the time in amusement parks."

"I mean, he saw the tag," Luke said unbelievably. "He probably saw it before we even came out of the tent." He started smiling and shaking his head at the likelihood. "You," he said pointing to Lorelai, "Are going to be the death of me one of these days."

She smiled and threw her hands out to her sides. "But what a way to go, though, right?"

"Let's just go," he said exasperatedly. He realized that they had just dodged a very huge bullet. He walked over to the tent to begin packing up everything when large sprays of water started hitting him in the face. Lorelai screamed and started running in circles looking for cover.

The park sprinklers had come on and were mercilessly spraying everything, including them. Realizing there was nowhere safe to run, she ran over to and behind Luke, which proved pointless because the sprinklers were everywhere. He just stood there. From the first moment that the water sprayed him, it was almost like he'd been expecting it. He stood stoic looking at the oncoming water. "Of course," he said calmly. He moved to the side to find Lorelai still screeching and cowering behind him.

Suddenly realizing that they had a tent, she sprinted over to it to get shelter. Before she could climb in, though, she felt an arm wrap around her waist.

"Uhn, uhn," Luke said. He had reached down and with one strong arm, picked her up and spun her around. His mouth was close to her ear, and she could clearly hear laughter in his words. "You wanted adventure, remember?" He said.

"Luke, put me down!" She yelled. She started to gently hit his arm in an effort to get him to release her. This fazed him none as he walked steadily toward the main area of sprinklers with her in his arms. "Luuuke!!" She yelled, laughing wildly as she held out her hands in front of her face.

"No, no," he breathed out in between chuckles, "Put your hands down. Adventure waits." With that last statement, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder as laughter overtook him, slowly taking away his strength. His grip on her loosened and she was able to shimmy free. There was not one part of her that wasn't dripping wet. She turned around and squared off with him.

"You are so going to pay for that," she said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, am I now?" He asked. He laughed at her level of wetness, not realizing that he was just as, if not more wet than she was. She leapt at him, and he took off running, but she wasn't far behind. They ran like two children throughout the park, laughing and yelling empty threats to one another. If finally sizzled down to Luke leaning on his knees and Lorelai trying to find a sneaky way to get to him without him doing the dodging thing that she felt all boys could unfairly do.

"Luke, we have to go," she said after another missed attempt. But, she still wasn't backing off.

"I know. What's your point?" He asked while keeping an eye on her.

"Let me get youuuuu," she whined, causing Luke to laugh again.

"I can't do that. But, we can call a truce so we can get out of here," he offered.

"I don't want…" She lunged again and missed…again, "to call a truce." She tried several more times with the same result. Finally, she crossed her arms over her chest and contemplated her choices. Throwing her hands up, she complied. "Truce."

"Truce?" He asked.

"Truce, dammit!" He laughed at her frustration before walking slowly toward her. Realizing that she was genuinely calling a truce, he held his arms out to her to solidify the agreement. She softened and met him halfway in an embrace. They'd never hugged before. There was too much of a question mark there to have _that_ kind of a friendship. Even openly affectionate Lorelai had always known that. Deep, deep down, she'd always known that if she went there, the question mark might start to fade away.

Though she and Luke had never embraced, she had, in the past, hugged male friends. She was well-aware of the unwritten rules. If you were going to hug a male buddy, certain body parts were not supposed to come in contact. Unless, there was some hidden agenda, you were to hug him with his and your feet about a foot apart. If the feet are that far apart, other things would be too. It would mean no disrespect, but it was the proper way to embrace that male _buddy_.

As Lorelai and Luke came together, they both knew that it wasn't a romantic thing. They were friends, and it was a truce hug for goodness' sake. That's what made the occurrences that more natural.

They both smiled—the first step in the truce—before Luke wrapped both arms around her waist as if he'd done it countless times before. Lorelai, at the same time, reached up and wrapped her arms securely around his neck. There was no space. That friendly gap was not there. Even if the friendly gap had had a baby, it would have had to take up residence some other place because frankly, where Luke ended and Lorelai began was anyone's guess.

Luke tightened his arms a little, prompting her to do the same. That brought them even closer, even though that seemed impossible. Feeling her that close to him, Luke began to recall the feelings that, at one time, made him almost ask her out. There was no denying that she was a one of a kind _kind of special_, but after Rory's school play, she'd made it clear how much his friendship meant to her. Not wanting to ruin that, he had backed off and given her what she needed—his friendship, and nothing more. He had learned to appreciate that side of her even more since then.

The discomfort that one might feel in similar circumstances wasn't present when they pulled away. It was truly like they'd done it millions of times.

The sprinklers continued its assault as they walked side-by-side back over to their equipment. Everything that could get wet had gotten wet, so they walked leisurely through the water like it was nothing.

They had everything packed in no time at all, and they made their way out of the park.

"Hi, how are you?" Lorelai said numerous times to passing strangers. Everyone looked wide-eyed at them as they squished their way through downtown. Just when the water was beginning to take its toll and Lorelai was starting to get cold, they were able to catch a taxi.

Upon reaching their hotel room, Lorelai nearly knocked Luke down as she grabbed some stuff and scampered off to the bathroom for a hot shower. The ride back had made them realize how stupid it was to go running through water in the early morning. No amount of heat in the taxi had kept them both from freezing.

While Lorelai was in the shower, Luke thought it best to strip off all of his clothes and put on something dry until she finished and he could shower. If he didn't, he'd be an icicle by the time she was done. When he heard the shower start up, he quickly slipped out of his clothes and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts. No sooner than he had his underwear pulled up, the bathroom door opened and out walked Lorelai in a bathrobe.

"I left my shampoo in my other bag," she said rushing out. Luke stood looking somewhat shaken. She looked over at him, making sure to look him in the face. She'd seen him decked only in his boxers when she came out, and she looked away immediately, wondering why after so many flannel-filled years of knowing him, he all of a sudden wanted to walk around half-naked. "What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"Geez, Lorelai, you were supposed to be in the shower!"

"Yeah, I know, but I forgot my shampoo," she reiterated, pulling it from her bag.

"If you would have come out two seconds earlier…" he said waving his hands.

She instantly pushed away the visual that her mind had beautifully created on a moment's notice. "Then, what?" She smiled. "I would have seen your grey hair?" He was looking down, but his head snapped up at her question.

"What? How did you---?"

"I didn't. You just told me," she said smiling wider. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Clever," he said. It was clear that he was embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Luke," she started as she walked toward the bathroom, "If I had come out here and you were in your birthday suit, I seriously doubt I'd have noticed a stupid grey hair." With that, she closed the door, leaving Luke on the other side turning 20 shades of red.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

Luke had slipped on a T-shirt and was waiting patiently for Lorelai to come out of the bathroom. He had toweled his hair and it had actually started to air dry while he sat waiting for her very long shower to be over. The TV was on in the background, but he paid it little attention as he sat gazing at the picture that he and Lorelai had taken together.

Lorelai came out of the bathroom followed by a huge gust of steam. "I could live in that shower," she said to Luke. She noticed his attention directed downward. "What are you looking at?" She asked.

He held it up so that she could see it. She nodded and turned toward the mirror.

"This really is a great picture," he mentioned. Lorelai decided to hold her tongue for fear of bringing back memories about what the guy had said. She hoped that Luke had long forgotten about what he'd insinuated. Her nervousness grew as he continued to stare at the picture.

"Do you mind if I keep this?" He asked still staring at it. She turned from the mirror.

"_You_ want to keep it?" Lorelai had assumed that she'd keep it by default, in addition to actually wanting to keep it.

"Yeah," he answered softly. "I mean, it's not like I have any pictures of you. And I could have a reminder from yesterday. I had fun."

"I could tell." She'd placed her hairbrush down and was leaning against the dresser. "I had a good time, too. But, I'm really glad you enjoyed yourself." She shifted under the intense gaze that he was giving her. "You can keep the picture," she added.

"Thanks." He looked down and lightly rubbed his thumbs across the front of the frame. Lorelai watched him do this silently. He brought the picture over to the nightstand and sat it carefully upright. "Well, I guess I'll go shower now." She watched him walk past her, but after he was in the bathroom, her eyes fell automatically to the photo.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

When Luke was dressed, the first thing that he did was go and check on the jeep. They'd had a whole day to fix it, so he assumed that it was waiting to be picked up. Upon making it over there, however, he discovered that they were not completely finished. They needed permission to continue once they found out the part was a little more than quoted. However, they couldn't get anyone on the phone when they'd called. Luke immediately regretted giving them the hotel phone number as opposed to Lorelai's cell number. He called Lorelai from across the street before authorizing the work. The men would need another two hours or more. Other cars had come in and had gotten placed ahead of the jeep.

Since the jeep would be unusable for a couple more hours, they went ahead and got the room for another night since checkout was so near. Luke knew that Lorelai wouldn't go for having to sit outside on 10 bags of luggage looking like an evicted tenant.

Luke entered the room and discovered Lorelai sitting Indian-style at the head of his bed. She was watching an 'I Love Lucy' episode. He glanced at her bed. The maid had made it up, but he was pretty sure that the mattress was still wet.

"You think we should've switched to another room?" He asked her.

"Nah," she said looking away from the TV, "We haven't had much luck with water lately, so it's probably best to stay in a room that's already been affected."

"Who can argue with that logic?"

"It's best to not even try."

He gave her a full smile before turning to her program. "What is this?"

"Luke, please tell me you've seen 'I Love Lucy'."

"Wish I could."

"You don't know what 'I Love Lucy' is?" She asked mouth agape.

"Shocking, isn't it? I mean, it is one of the more monumental happenings in American history," he said sarcastically.

She closed her mouth and rolled her eyes at him. "So not the point. It's a classic. It's like saying you haven't seen 'Scarface' or 'Forrest Gump'."

"Forrest who?" Her mouth dropped back open as she regarded him like he had a foot growing out of his face. He started to chuckle lightly.

"Are you playing with me?" She asked.

"One great way to pass the time."

"Mean."

They sat and watched the rest of the episode together—Lorelai on the bed and Luke at the table. She even realized he had a comedic sense of humor as he amusedly responded to Lucy's antics. When the show was over, Lorelai climbed off of the bed.

"I'm going to run to the store for a minute," she said.

"Ok, I'll come with you." He stood up and prepared himself to leave with her.

"No, I'll be fine. It's right around the corner."

He looked worried. "Are you sure? We don't really know this area." She smiled at him.

"You're so sweet. I'll be fine, though." She walked over and patted his chest reassuringly before exiting.

When she came back, she carried a tall box in one hand, along with a bag of random items. Luke was in the same chair he'd been in when they watched the show. He noticed the things in her hands.

"Is that a cake?" He asked as he studied the box.

"It sure is." She sat everything on the table.

"Why'd you buy a cake?" He asked like dubiously.

"Well," She started taking out forks, candles, etc. "I was able to use my wonderful astuteness to determine that it was your birthday a couple of days ago." She began placing candles in the center. "And you never had a cake. No cake meant no wish, and you can't have a birthday without birthday wishes." She tore open the lighter package to light the five long candles. He stared at the cake which read, _'Luke, 39 years young'_.

"Lorelai, you didn't have to do this."

"I know," she said looking down at him. "I wanted to." He looked back down to the cake box.

"Where'd you get it? Last I checked, they didn't sell birthday cakes at convenience stores."

"I got it from the bakery over…" She pointed like it was within eyeshot. "…near the car shop. You don't remember seeing it?" He shook his head as he watched her light the candles. "Well, I had a few samples while I was in there, and if those are any indication, this cake is going to taste _amazing_.

He looked down to his hands. "I haven't had a cake since I was a kid."

She continued on. "And I know you don't particularly like foods with, you know, _taste_, but I was hoping you'd make an exception just this once because it'd really be a crime to not try this."

She looked down to Luke. He brought his head up quickly meeting her gaze. With a smile, he replied, "Of course I'll try a piece."

"Good." She walked behind his chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, "Now, blow out your candles."

He hesitantly inched his left hand up and brought it over her right as it lay on his shoulder. Lifting it up gently, he brought it over his head, and she moved over to his side. He looked up at her and laced his fingers through hers. She welcomed the gesture by rubbing her thumb along his hand. He stood up and moved closer to the cake. He stared at it a moment before leaning down and blowing each candle out one by one.

Their hands were still intertwined. "What did you wish for?" She asked him.

"I can't tell you my wish," he said looking at the swirls of smoke coming from the former flames. "It won't come true if I tell you," he added softly.

Lorelai brought her other hand up to her face as she released a series of giggles. He looked at her quizzically. Before he could say anything, she brought her hand down and said with a wide smile, "That was the cutest thing I've ever heard." She laughed softly again. "I would have never thought something like that would come from you." She regarded him as a multitude of thoughts swam in her head. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you? I mean, first the Jergens, which by the way, completely works," she said as she brought her left hand over their joined hands, "And now this. I'm learning so much."

"I'm glad," he said detached. He focused back on the cake. Lorelai watched his long lashes blink as he stared at it. All humor left.

"What's wrong? Did I get the wrong kind of cake? Would you have preferred a whipped topping?"

"No, the cake's fine. Actually, it's more than fine…it's perfect. Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said as she rubbed his arm. The way that Luke was staring at the cake, it wasn't hard to determine that something was bothering him. Lorelai didn't want to push him to talk about whatever it was, so she let her hand rest comfortably in his while she idly drug her other hand up and down his arm—just letting him know she was there.

It hadn't felt strange at all when Luke had taken her hand. It was, maybe, the third or fourth time it'd happened in the last couple of days, and each time it felt more than natural. Lorelai sensed a deeper connection being formed with him. Oddly enough, it was on an intimate level, and it wasn't giving her the desire to flee or disengage in any way. She was open for exploration, curious as to where and how far it'd go. Not that she was necessarily wanting or expecting anything, but just knowing that it was Luke made the whole thing comfortable and inviting.

He continued to stare at the cake. He brought his lips in and rubbed them together slowly, completely lost in his thoughts. Turning to look at her, he said, "Lorelai, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Anything."

"Do you believe in soul mates?"

The question threw her at first. "Um," she looked down from his face and began scanning the room as if the answer would pop up somewhere. "I guess. I mean, I think that two people can be in love and be a nice fit for one another." She had reestablished eye contact by this point. "Why?" She was almost anxious to hear his reasoning as the word quietly escaped her mouth.

He regarded her silently. "My Mom used to."

Anytime Luke would bring up one or both of his deceased parents, Lorelai would instantly start to ache. It was a subject that could not be turned into a joke or wittedly commented upon. She would start to feel helpless and useless to the situation, but she'd still want to be there for him.

She turned around and led him over to his bed so they could sit and talk. He sat down on the end, and she sat next to him. She turned to face him as she tucked one foot under her bottom. Holding his hand, now, in both her hands, she urged him to continue.

It took him a while, but he did. "Every birthday my Mom would buy these huge cakes." He smiled at the memory. "It was only me, Liz, and my Mom and Dad, and she'd still buy these gigantic sheet cakes." He paused. "She'd sit me down in front of it and tell me to make a wish." He glanced at her and continued. "Every other kid my age was wishing for…" He fanned his hand trying to come up with some pointless, easily breakable 70's toy.

"Over-manufactured wastes of hard earned money?" Lorelai offered.

"Exactly." Lorelai smiled as she pictured a 7-yr. old Luke with those thoughts. He continued on. "Well, I was wishing for happiness. I'd look at my parents, and even as a little kid, I knew I wanted what they had." He shook his head unbelievably. "An 8-yr. old. I would blow out my candles and with for my soul mate…at 8-yrs. old." He allowed his words to settle. "I know it's dumb."

Her response was immediate. "No, that's not dumb, Luke. It trumps my please-let-someone-kidnap-me-from-this-hellhole wish any day." He laughed, which served as encouragement for her because laughter was her expertise. "Only I couldn't make the wish over the cake because Emily Gilmore felt that blowing out your own candles was one step above eating off of a garbage can lid."

"Sounds like a kid's paradise."

"More or _even more_ less."

He stood up and they finally released each other's hand. "Well, this cake," he began as he walked over to the table, "…is great; I really do appreciate everything you've done for me."

She followed him over. "You don't have to thank me. I'm not doing anything that I don't want to do." His response was a smile. She pulled a plastic knife from the box of utensils. "Do the honors." She extended the knife to him. He took the knife from her and cut her a large slice.

"We're not even at the diner, and I still end up serving you," he said as he placed it on her plate. Surprisingly, he cut himself a piece just as big as hers before sitting down beside her.

The cake was decadent, but Lorelai couldn't fully appreciate it as she sat thinking about what Luke had said. She didn't expect him to answer her, but she asked anyway. "Is that what you wished for before—to find your soul mate?" She placed her fork down as she waited for his response.

"No," he answered hesitantly. "It would have been kind of pointless to do that."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm pretty sure I found her a long time ago." He didn't look up from his cake as he said this. Therefore, he failed to see the hurt and disappointed look that crossed Lorelai's face.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

When Lorelai had met Rachel, she felt instantly threatened. She really was an Elle McPhearson kind of pretty. She never forgot when she made a complete idiot of herself upon meeting her. The look on Luke's face was something she'd never seen before—shock, yeah, but there was also adoration…and _love?_

When Rachel made it clear that she was in it for the long haul with Luke, Lorelai felt that she would become isolated from him. Whatever friendship they had would start to diminish and that possibility made her sad. That was the one feeling that she readily acknowledged because the jealousy that came with it couldn't be explained away so easily. Therefore, it was disregarded, as much as it could be, anyway.

Upon hearing that Rachel had left, it surprised her at how relieved she was. Of course she wanted Luke to be Ok, but ding-dong, the ex was gone. She figured, out of sight, out of mind. And since Luke didn't seem to be too sad, she felt that Rachel's leaving was just meant to be.

Hearing Luke say that he'd found his soul mate years ago cleared up any doubt that Lorelai had about what Rachel really meant to him. She naturally assumed it was Rachel since they had such a grandiose history.

The realization hit hard and it felt like someone had slammed a big steel door in her face.

TBC…..


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter is going to get a _little_ graphic, so just in case the M rating isn't enough of a warning, don't read if it may offend.

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 9**

Lorelai had full intentions of convincing Luke to go out on the town—maybe hit a bar or a club. That, of course, was assuming the small town had some kind of adult entertainment. But, she changed her mind during cake time. She wasn't mad or sour toward him, but the desire to go out and do something was no longer present.

They spent the majority of the day in silence. Save for the blaring of the television, the room was reasonably quiet.

They both had, about mid-afternoon, walked over and retrieved the jeep, but they just drove it to the hotel parking lot and went back up to the room. They went out for both lunch and dinner, and returned, again to the room.

Later on in the evening, Lorelai was laying on the bed seeing what was coming on TV. They only had HBO, so the movie selection, she knew, was going to suck.

"Ooh, ooh!" She said when the next movie was shown. _Never Been Kissed_ is about to come on," she said to Luke. He was sitting at the table playing solitaire with a deck of cards Lorelai had brought back from the store.

"Good. Now, maybe you can settle on one station for more than ten seconds."

"Can you come watch it with me?" She asked, ignoring his comment.

_Never Been Kissed_ sounds like a chick flick," he told her pointedly.

"So?"

"You expect me to watch a chick flick?"

"Well, you'll be watching it with a chick, so it's allowed."

"No, I think I'm good," he said as he continued his game.

"Luke, please. It's a really good movie. Well, not really good, but it's funny and sweet, and I have to watch it with somebody."

"You flatter me," he said flatly.

"Well, I can't mock the movie to myself. That'd be weird."

He placed his cards on the table and stood up with a loud exhale. "I know I'm going to regret this." He walked over to the bed. "Scoot over," he told her. They both sat at the head of the bed with their backs against the headboard.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

By the time Josie was standing on home plate waiting in front of a stand full of people, Luke and Lorelai had sunken down considerably. When it was over, they watched the credits roll for a while. Lorelai turned down the volume.

"So, did you like it?" She asked turning her eyes on him. He took in a large amount of air as he stretched on the bed.

"A grown woman goes back to school pretending to be a student, falls in love with a teacher, and finally gets her first real kiss?" Lorelai braced herself for the rant that would surely follow. "It was Ok," he said simply.

"What?" Lorelai asked surprised. "You liked it?"

"It had baseball in it," he defended. They were lying on their backs and had their necks turned facing each other.

"Hehehe. You so liked it. Wait 'til the guys at the flannel store hears about this." He smiled at her as he turned his head to face the ceiling. She continued to look at him. It was starting to get dark out, but with the television's light and the small amount of light that was supplied from the setting sun, she could still clearly see. Since he had turned, she was left with his profile. "Hey, Luke?" She asked after a while.

"Hmmm?" He answered. It almost seemed like he was trying to memorize the ceiling's patterns.

"Who was your first kiss with?" She asked timidly. He turned his eyes back to her briefly. Her blue eyes were apparent, even in the decreasing light. He refocused on the ceiling. He went back and forth in his head, considering whether or not to answer her. From experience, he'd learned that some questions she asked were slippery slopes that he'd, over the years, learned to avoid. She didn't seem to be in a very playful mood, so he felt that it was safe to answer her.

"I was in the fifth grade. It was recess time, and I was sitting with some guys from my class. We were playing around and one of 'em dared me to go up and kiss this girl named Jessica." He held his gaze with the ceiling. "Not being one to pass up a dare, I went up to her. She was sitting there on the swing looking at me. As I got closer and closer, I started to chicken out, and by the time I was right in front of her, it was almost like I could hear my dad scolding me for _disrespecting this young lady_," his voice took on a deep Mufasa kind of tone. "So, I just stood there looking completely stupid—scared to go back because they'd call me a punk, but I couldn't do it 'cause that'd make me a jerk."

Lorelai was staring a hole in the side of his face by this point. "So, what'd you do?" She asked.

"I asked her."

"You _asked_ her?"

"Yeah," he admitted softly. "I asked her if she minded if I kissed her. I even told her it was a bet."

"Did she let you?"

"Yep. It turned out she had a crush on me. Imagine that," he said modestly.

"Yeah, imagine that," she whispered.

"Well, we ended up dating for like a month—until she dumped me for some sixth grader with a ten speed." Lorelai couldn't help but chuckle at that. Luke suddenly looked at her. "What about you?"

"My first kiss?" She asked pointing to herself. He nodded. Clearing her throat, she said quickly, "Well, it was with Chris." After that very uncomfortable part was out, she took her time with the rest. "I was 14—completely rebellious and willing to do just about anything my parents wouldn't approve of. It wasn't the _Snow White_ kiss that every girl dreams of, you know?"

"Really?"

"No. After it was over, I knew I'd remember it forever because…it was my first kiss, but I didn't really feel anything. It was like, _'Ok, I'm done now'_," she said shrugging.

He felt that he shouldn't, but he said it anyway. "A kiss with your first love wasn't a fairy tale?"

"Christopher isn't my first love," she answered casually. Luke's brows furrowed in a questioning manner. "I'll always love him for giving me Rory and for the friendship he and I share, but I've never been in love with him." After the words were out, Lorelai's eyes bore deeply into his to the point Luke felt as if she were singeing him. He slowly turned back to the ceiling. "So, you thought I was in love with Chris?" She asked.

He was silent at first—embarrassed and put on the spot. He felt the need to move or do something to displace the discomfort, but he stayed in place. "Well, I just assumed…"

"Well, I guess it's a fair assumption—given what you've witnessed over the years." She paused. "Just like I assume Rachel will always be the woman you want to be with," she said sharply.

"Like hell," he said instantaneously.

"What?"

"I don't want to be with Rachel. I knew that before she came back that last time. A person can only take so much." Lorelai was silent. Her thoughts bounced around in her head like a rigged ping pong ball.

"Well you…soul mate….before…" Her words were barely audible.

"I wasn't talking about Rachel," he whispered dismally, still toward the ceiling.

"Oh," was all she said in response. Her mind was all over the place, and she needed him to be clear. For once in his life, she needed him to be clear. "Who were you talking about?"

He paused and shook his head momentarily. "Not Rachel."

Her heart began to beat wildly inside of her chest. She was sure that if the room were dead silent, they'd be able to freestyle to its beat.

Slowly, she turned fully on her side. "Luke, look at me," she whispered.

It seemed to take an eternity, but he finally complied. He tore his eyes from the ceiling and turned them on her. They instantly connected with hers. They stared intensely at each other for a long moment.

With her eyes still on his, she brought her hand up to his cheek. At first, she let her hand just rest there gently, but she slowly started to caress. She allowed her fingers to rub in the direction of his hair growth. Her eyes started to tear a little, but she held his gaze. "What are you feeling right now?" She asked as a single tear escaped her eye.

He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. She continued to stroke his cheek. Like he'd done earlier, he reached up and brought his hand over hers. Reopening his eyes, he looked back at her. He noticed that several more tears had escaped her eye. He lifted her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it like one would kiss a newborn. He'd closed his eyes as he kissed her there, but opened them soon after when he brought her hand down to his chest.

Placing his thumbs in the center of her hand, he began to softly stretch her fingers until there was an open palm. Once open, he laid it gently over his heart.

She gave freely to his movements without ever breaking eye contact. When her hand was in place, she felt rapid pulsations through his clothes. It almost made her speedy heartbeat seem like it was going in slow motion. With his hands lying on top of hers, he answered her question.

"I feel like I can fly." It was a simple statement, but still one that Luke never thought would ever pass through his brain, let alone his lips. But there it was. It was said and was now floating around the room like paper ashes. Lorelai's lips began to tremble, and she shut her eyes lightly as a couple more tears rolled down and wetted her pillow. Luke took her hand in his left as he turned on his side. Using his free hand, he began to wipe tenderly at the tears that had stained her face.

She felt his featherlike touches on her skin and the bolts of electricity that had been coursing through her finally settled in her stomach. She opened her eyes and watched him as he continued to wipe. When he brought his hand back, they lay there once again, staring unblinking at each other.

Looking down at the space between them, Lorelai began to think of her next course of action. She came to a conclusion quickly. She looked back to him before she lifted herself up and scooted closer. As she lay her head on the same pillow that his rested on, she looked at all of his features, appreciating them from their close position.

Finally settling on his lips, she noticed the fullness of them. They looked like they were soft, but she knew there was only one way to find out for sure. Luke was looking at her look at him. Before she lost her nerve, she leaned in and pressed her lips softly to his. Her intention was to kiss him briefly and pull back to see what his reaction would be. That was her intention.

When she kissed him, though, the feeling that came with it caught her completely off guard. Putting an end, however brief, to that was no longer an option. Since she had intended on pulling away, her lips were positioned lightly on his, but the feeling had caused her to freeze in place. Once she was reasonably sure that the new, intense feeling was something she could handle, she pushed against his lips. This caused him to move his slightly.

They were both just enjoying the feel of the others' lips. Lorelai didn't imagine, even as she lay looking at them, that they'd be that soft. She opened her mouth to take a breath, and his opened along with hers. Luke's tongue came out and brushed lightly on the roof of her mouth. Before it had a chance to retreat completely, she touched hers lightly to his.

Before either knew what was happening, they were kissing passionately. She was moaning into his mouth and Luke thought that he'd died and gone to Heaven.

He had wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his body. With both of them lying on their sides, it basically took away full mobility from one of each of their arms. With one hand running freely through his hair, Lorelai, with lips still connected to his, scooted back urging him to follow. Once he was in a position where they wouldn't roll off of the bed if he rolled over, she made a move to straddle him. He automatically turned on his back. Not once did they break the kiss.

They had heat like teenagers who had finally gotten a moment to be alone. But, that's where the comparison ended. Their kisses were not sloppy and inexperienced with tongues lapping about wildly.

This was a long time coming, and the maturity in both of them was able to recognize and respect the preciousness of the huge leap. Their heads moved slowly and steadily up and down as their tongues danced together.

Arousal was apparent in the kiss, but as Lorelai lay above him, she ground her hips into his causing him to have more excitement elsewhere. She had already gotten saturated before she climbed atop him. The feeling of him beneath her only served to add to her arousal.

He wrapped both arms around her back as he sat up slowly. Like they had pre-planned the next move, he broke the kiss and moved to her neck. At the same moment, she tossed her head to the side as both her hands rubbed their way through his hair. He continued to kiss, lick, and nibble his way down her neck. Suddenly realizing that the sensation could be heightened, Luke allowed his hands to slip underneath her baby tee.

When she felt his hands on her back, she too realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg.

She reared back causing Luke's mouth to detach from her clavicle. They were both breathing heavily by this point and were almost blind with passion for the other. The dark blue, almost grey irises solidified that. She brought her lips back to his and initiated another searing kiss. She pulled back again with a low, "Oh my god!" Her eyes were closed as she hung her head. His kisses were like foreplay, and she literally had to ration the feeling upon herself. The intensity alone was driving her insane.

When she recovered from the wonderful floating fleeting, she looked back to him.

Luke's mouth hung partially open as his chest rose up and down. He watched her carefully. Every look that came across her face every touch she placed upon him, the feel of her hot skin--he wanted to savor it all.

All of the feelings that he had for Lorelai couldn't be verbalized if he had a lifetime. He didn't know when it was or why it was that he had started to fall for her. But fall he had—long before the trip. He had long ago gotten used to being around her. He'd learned to deal with her platonic love, so the events on the trip were grounds he'd traveled and gotten through many a time. He had programmed himself to not get his hopes up. If it was meant to be, it would. That had become his mantra in regards to her.

As he sat looking into her eyes, he knew that he wanted to please her so bad that it ached. He hated to reduce all of his feelings down to something people did thoughtlessly every day, but he wanted her to feel him. In this case, actions would be the closest way for her to hear everything he had to say.

He brought his hands up and tucked her hair behind both her ears. Their breathing had started to slow and they just sat appreciating their closeness—Lorelai on top of Luke with a knee on either side of him.

They knew what was about to happen and needed reassurance from the other that this was not just about the act. Even in their intense state of arousal, they were able to stop and silently confirm. Tears started to roll once again down Lorelai's cheeks, but she refused to look away. To her, that would show uncertainty or a non-commitment to more than sex. There was no way in hell she was looking away.

He leaned in and gently grasped the back of her head as he planted several kisses on the trails of her tears. He pulled back and smiled affectionately. Lorelai felt as if she could melt down into a puddle at that moment.

She brought her hands up and started to unbutton his shirt.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

After Lorelai had initiated the removing of clothes, they had both stood up. While never breaking eye contact, they took turns undressing. It was almost as if they were looking into each other's soul. That was far more intimate than anything they could do physically. It was also the last chance for either of them to back out if they wanted to. Without all of the mind-numbing kisses and touches going on, they had the perfect opportunity to snap back to reality. What they both began to realize during the unclothing ceremony was that reality was present, accounted for and was waiting for class to start with eager anticipation. It couldn't get more real.

Once naked, they took each other's hands and slowly let their eyes drop to the others' body.

Luke almost felt faint as he allowed his eyes to wander over Lorelai's most intimate parts. She was beautiful. Every inch of her was perfect. He didn't want to just stand there ogling her, but every time he'd try to look elsewhere, her body would call his attention back to it.

Lorelai let her eyes travel down his muscular chest and abs and fall to the last and most eye-catching part of his anatomy. He was very erect, and she knew instantly that he'd never had to utter the saying about the boat size not mattering. It didn't surprise her because Luke was a fairly large guy, so it fit him. But it was the first time since she lost her virginity that she was a little worried about comfortable accommodation.

She took a deep breath and tried not to appear too eager. She laughed inwardly as she pictured herself dropping to the floor and doing push-ups to prepare.

The lead-up was very sweet and through all of the emotions they felt—while all positive—they both landed on just 'happy'.

Once they were positioned under the covers, they smiled widely at the other. They both felt like dorks, but they couldn't help it. At that moment, life was good.

They met in the middle of the bed and resumed the kissing that seemed to make the rest of the world disappear. This time, though, there was skin-to-skin contact. To hell with the rest of the world.

Luke gently rolled Lorelai on her back and supported himself on his forearms. He slowed the kiss down and gave her one kiss to her bottom lip and another on her jaw line before he inched his way down to her breast. He gave each one special and equal attention, sucking and gently biting them. He kept stimulating her breasts as he moved his mouth back up her body. He had moved beside her and was positioned on his side as she lay flat on her back. He seductively moved his hand downward until it was between her legs. That was the moment that he brought his lips back to hers.

Once he made contact with what he was looking for, he pressed against it and moved his finger in a circular motion. Lorelai grinded slowly, encouraging his actions. She felt the desire to scream out in ecstasy, but his mouth served as a stopper. Without warning, he smoothly slipped his middle finger inside of her and allowed his thumb the job of clitoral stimulation.

Lorelai literally felt like she was about to black out. His tongue began to dip in and out of her mouth windingly, mimicking the movement of his finger. She broke the kiss and slapped her hands on the bed sheets, gripping them into tight fists. She tossed her head back as a toe curling orgasm hit with full force. She suppressed the urge to scream, and it instead, came out as a guttural groan. For a full minute, she could not move.

As soon as she had recovered from her blissful state, she drew lazy, sexy eyes on Luke. His hand—the one that had done all of the wonderful things to her—lay idly on her stomach as he waited for her to come back down.

"I think I'm hooked," she said teasingly. Her voice was low and throaty. With that, she rolled him on his back and climbed on top of him slowly. He was rock hard by this point and Lorelai felt that if they did not proceed soon, the moment would come to an abrupt end. Little did she know.

They soon realized that kissing would never get old as their tongues, again, got reacquainted. Luke felt Lorelai's center getting closer and closer. He separated his mouth from hers once he moaned for her to _'hold on a second'_. He reached over and took the condom off the nightstand. He'd placed it there before getting undressed. She stared solemnly into his eyes as he worked to blindly secure it. She smiled as his face contorted slightly in concentration.

"You need some help?" She asked softly.

"No, I think I have it." Lorelai stayed straddling him, completely unmoving. She held contact with an adoring sparkle present in her, still, dark eyes. _'I am definitely hooked'_, she thought.

Once he had the condom in place, he let out a breath and placed his hands on her sides. He slid them up gently and grazed the sides of her breasts. She slowly leaned down and gave him a lingering kiss before sitting back up. Luke sat up with her this time as he allowed his hands to rub around to and then up and down her back. They could feel each other's breath since their faces were barely two inches apart.

"Are you Ok?" Luke whispered to her as he felt her shudder beneath his touch.

She looked down to his lips. "I'm more than Ok," she whispered back. He pecked her lips softly.

He focused in on her eyes which, he noted, were even more gorgeous up close. "Are you ready?" he asked considerately as he reached up and removed a strand of hair from her face. Her answer was a smitten smile and a nod.

She straightened herself completely on her knees. Luke lifted her up further with one arm as he used his other hand to position himself at her entrance. He looked up to her to make sure she was Ok as he gently lowered her onto his length. She drew in a jagged breath and slid down a couple of inches. Her eyes were closed as an immense amount of pleasure came over her. Luke still had to hold her tightly so that she'd be able to control the depth without sinking down further than she'd like.

She let out the intake of breath silently and began biting her lip to from screaming out. She started moving up and down rhythmically, taking in more of him little by little. Her hands were moving through his hair, and every so often, she'd find herself gripping his hair a little too tightly and she'd loosen her grip, but Luke didn't seem to mind. He was too focused on her body pressed against his as she moved above him.

It didn't take long for Lorelai to reach her second orgasm of the night. She slowed down her movements and screamed out Luke's name as it hit just as hard as the one before. He, again, waited patiently for her to settle. He kissed her neck and clavicle as her breathing started to slow. Swallowing hard, she looked down to him. She didn't even feel real anymore. "Did you…?"

He shook his head lightly as he looked up at her and smiled. She had never seen him look so sexy. Her eyebrows rose at his answer, and a slow, gratifying smile spread over her face.

He rolled them over effortlessly while still inside of her. Once they were horizontal, they began to kiss passionately. Lorelai wrapped one leg around his middle, and he began to push inside of her. He went slowly and tried to keep a solid pace so as not to overexcite himself. Lorelai writhed underneath him as his mild thrusts pushed her further and further over the edge.

He began to smoothly roll his hips. He would go in, pull out to the left, go down, and slide back in forcefully. The first time he did it, Lorelai's jaw dropped open, and she temporarily forgot how to breathe. The second time he just kind of dropped his hips and slid partially in…out…in…out…before sliding almost entirely inside of her.

Her eyes rolled to the rear of her head and she pictured herself floating up to the clouds. _'This can't be real'_, she thought. Suddenly, another roll of his hips sent her to, yet, another strong climax. This one was even more intense as she felt waves of pleasure travel up and down her body. She called out to both God and Luke with volume being of no concern to her.

He licked seductively below her ear as she gripped his back tightly. As soon as she had partially recovered, he began to move again. She felt like climbing the walls. This time, he reared his lower half all the way back and plunged fully into her. Her nails dug deep into his back as she went into a frenzy. While holding his position, he swayed his hips and seemed to penetrate her over and over without ever pulling out. She hadn't fully gotten over the effects of her last climax before she was hitting another. Hard. She bucked wildly and moaned while biting her lip so hard, she nearly drew blood.

This time, her contracting muscles triggered his long awaited release as well. He tried to hold out for a while longer; he wanted to extend the experience well into the next day if he could just to be connected to her. But, he was only human. And this _was_ Lorelai. He released a low groan against her neck.

A thin layer of sweat covered their bodies as they lay in place. Spent. They breathed heavily. Lorelai reached a weak hand up from his back and started to gently rub the back of his hair. He lifted his head up and kissed an invisible trail up to her mouth where he put his very talented and restless tongue to work. Lorelai was a willing and immediate participant even though her energy level was lower than ever.

With Luke as a spotter, she knew she'd found a calorie burning exercise she'd never mind doing.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

They lay tangled in the bed sheets. Lorelai's head rested on Luke's shoulder as she absently played with his chest hair. They both were silent, which was more unusual for Lorelai than Luke.

"Are you tired?" Luke asked her, breaking the quiet

"Aren't you?" She asked looking up at him.

"Yeah, a little," he said coolly.

"A little?" She smiled widely. "I feel like I can go to sleep and sleep for days and you're _a little tired_?"

"I didn't mean _that_. I just wanted to know why you were so quiet," he said lazily.

There was a thoughtful pause. "You want to know what I was thinking?"

"Yeah," he answered. Lorelai felt the urge to attack his gorgeous body right then, and she was pretty sure she would if he kept answering in that lazy, sexy ass tone of his.

"I was just thinking about how stupid Rachel must have been."

Lorelai could only imagine how ridiculous that must have sounded to him. She couldn't imagine a woman alive who would voluntarily leave the man that lay beneath her. Thinking about how Rachel had chosen to scour the country taking pictures instead of building a future with Luke caused the unclear presentation of her response.

That was her refined rationalization. While all very true, they weren't the initial and most bombarding thoughts. He true views seemed a bit immature.

She couldn't admit to herself how she wondered how Rachel could leave a man who could literally make someone speechless over and over with a single sexual encounter. Never had she experienced such an overwhelming amount of pleasure. To have climaxed four times with no recharge from Luke was completely astounding. And the intensity of each one was most definitely new to her. It made her question everything, especially what she used to consider mind-blowing sex. She felt bamboozled and hoodwinked, to say the least.

As she prepared her brain to add supporting ideas to her remark, Luke responded, showing a full understanding of what she had meant.

"Not as stupid as Chris," he commented. She smiled. "And Alex," he continued. "And Max. And---"

"Ok," she said, cutting him off. "I get it." A long silence followed.

"Any regrets?" Luke asked cautiously.

"Lots," she answered after a moment. She felt Luke tense under her. She looked up at him with a serious expression. "Starting 8 years ago. I'm regretting 8 wasted years like you wouldn't believe."

He started to stroke her hair softly as her eyes remained fixed on him. "Don't," he whispered. "Every second of those 8 years make this," his eyes scanned over the both of them, "what this is."

"What is this?" She asked shyly.

He looked her square in the eyes and responded with a soft confidence, "The beginning of forever."

She smiled widely with tears instantly filling her eyes. Once they started to fall, wiping them would have been pointless. They fell freely, but the size of the smile on her face was proof that they were tears of joy.

TBC….


	10. Chapter 10

The Not So Huge Grey Area **Part 10**

The next morning, they both gathered all of their belongings so that they could finally leave the state that they had mistakenly stumbled upon.

The morning had started off great. They felt that they'd wasted enough water, so both agreed to _save water_ by pairing up in the shower. The tight fit wasn't a real problem since Luke's feet were the only ones planted on the bottom of the tub.

They ended up transferring the action back into the main room for limitless movements, and by the time it was over, they had managed to make the night before seem like a fumbling mess. They lay immobile for nearly a half hour, basking in the afterglow. They talked and laughed freely with each other. Once they regained the ability to move, they resumed their showers individually. They realized they would never leave, otherwise.

"Just out of curiosity," Luke began as he stuffed toiletries into his bag, "Where exactly were you planning on taking me?" Lorelai was packing on her bed (which she never did get a chance to sleep in), and Luke was on his bed. The farther apart they were, the greater their chances were for staying clothed.

"You don't want to know," she stated.

"Yes, I do. Why wouldn't I want to know?"

"Let me rephrase that, _I_ don't want you to know because you'll think I have no sense of direction."

"I already think that." He smirked. "I can understand ending up in the wrong town or city, but the wrong State, Lorelai?"

"Luke," she said closing her eyes, "please don't say my name like that."

"Like what?" He asked with genuine confusion.

She gave him a knowing look. "You know what I'm talking about. There is no way in Hell you can _not_ know."

"Well, I don't," he answered, watching her chest rise and fall quickly. Suddenly a slow smile spread over his face as it dawned on him. But he continued on, "I mean, your name is _Lorelai_, isn't it? If your name is _Lorelai_, then what else am I going to call you except _Lorelai_?" He ended with a slow shrug.

She tried not to smile but failed miserably. "You are such a jerk," she said while chuckling.

He smiled cockily as he pushed everything down tightly and zipped up his bag.

"Uh, Luke?" Lorelai said after a few seconds of silent packing.

"Yes, _Lorelai_," he answered, looking amused.

"Stop that," she said sternly, pointing to him. He laughed.

"Sorry."

She cleared her throat. "I just wanted to let you know that that thing that was bothering you…"

"You mean, my body getting old and starting to decay? Your words, by the way," he finished quickly.

"That was a ploy, Luke. I didn't mean that."

"I know."

"I hope you do because you are no where near old. Honestly, the things that you can do," her voice drifted away as she recalled the events of the last day or so, "are incredible. People half your age can't, you know…like that."

"You think so?" He asked, turning red.

"Oh, my god!" Her eyes rolled back dramatically. "You. Have. No. Idea."

"I'm not talking about that. I meant about the getting old part."

"Oh. Well, of course I meant it. And look at you," she said looking him up and down. "You don't have anything to worry about," she concluded as she continued to pack.

"You were amazing too," he added feebly. "Just so you know." She smiled. _'He is just too cute'_, she thought. "I mean, I've never had…" He swallowed. "You know what I mean."

"How could I not, what with such great verb usage."

He just rolled his eyes. "Alright," he said switching subjects "Are you ready to go?"

She looked around the room and nodded. "I am at that." She grabbed one of her bags and turned back to him. "Can you carry me down the stairs?"

"No, you can walk like all other functioning adults."

"It's nice to know you haven't changed on me," she replied sarcastically.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

When they had loaded up the car and checked out of the room, they decided to walk to a nearby diner to grab a bite to eat. On the way back, a voice called out to Luke from across the street at Goodyear.

"Luke!" The voice yelled. They couldn't exactly tell who the caller was, but as a figure started jogging over to them, recognition set in.

"Harmony," Luke and Lorelai said.

"Hey!" She said excitedly. "I didn't think you guys would still be here." She glanced briefly at Lorelai before returning full focus to Luke. "How are you guys doing?"

"We're good," Luke said looking to Lorelai. She stood biting her lip looking at Harmony. Her expression was unreadable.

"I'm actually kind of glad you're still here. Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?" Harmony said to Luke. She motioned like she wanted to move somewhere else to talk to him.

He wondered what it could be about. _'Did she change her mind about payment?'_ He thought. He looked down to Lorelai and shrugged lightly. She glanced back to Harmony and then to Luke.

"Go ahead, Baby, I'll go wait in the jeep." She brought her hands up to his face and leaned into him giving him a deep kiss, slipping her tongue into his mouth instantly. Luke's hands automatically went to her waist.

They pulled apart slowly, having gotten a little carried away. She used her thumb to wipe below his bottom lip and gave him a quick peck. She walked away without even looking in Harmony's direction.

Harmony stood there looking shell-shocked. _'Two days ago, they were just buddies—at least that's what they led me to believe'_, she thought. She wanted to disappear because she felt completely out of place. When she found her voice, she told Luke, "Um, I have to go, but you guys have a safe trip back." She walked away briskly. Luke barely waved to her back as he stood recovering from Lorelai's parting kiss.

When he got in the jeep, Lorelai was dancing to a random pop song like she hadn't a care in the world.

"What was that?" He asked her as he turned down the volume dial.

"What was what?" She asked acting dense.

"That kiss. Someone was standing right there, Lorelai."

"No, _Harmony_ was standing right there. Game, set, match." A smile appeared on her face seemingly out of nowhere. "That was a great kiss, though, wasn't it? Man, I love your lips." She cranked up the car casually.

He just sat looking at her. "I will never understand you," he said shaking his head and putting on his seatbelt.

"Not exactly a bad thing. Keeps the relationship fresh." Luke felt a glorious tingle at the mention of the word 'relationship'. He smiled faintly as he looked out of his window. "So, where are we off to?" She asked him.

"You're behind the wheel. Just drive," he said nonchalantly. "We still have four more days."

She looked over at him proudly. She could have sworn she'd have to convince him why they shouldn't just turn around and go home. "If you insist," she said brightly.

"I do."

Out of nowhere, Lorelai blurted out, "Rhode Island. That's where we were going to go. It was a really nice cabin resort I wanted to take you to."

He thought that that was a great idea for a vacation, but he couldn't help but think of something else. _'Rhode Island?!? And, we're in Pennsylvania? He thought. _He turned to her with an annoyed look.

"Absolutely no direction," he said simply

"And yet, I still found my way to you," she replied. He nodded like he was impressed.

"Nice."

**---------------THE END-------------**

**I played with Luke's character a bit, but hopefully I didn't stretch him out too bad. He was still recognizable to me, but I have a _small_ bias. I started to put this at the beginning of Ch. 6, but I didn't want you guys going into the story expecting the worse.** **Tell me what you think.**

**I thank everybody who has read this. You've all been fantastic. I hope it was good and lived up to at least a little of your expectations, and since I'm officially off the hook for updates, I am going to take a little break. Until next time, I wish you all love, peace, happiness…and all that other good crap. Review please!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


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